


United by Love, Rain and Forgotten Umbrellas

by MiniNoire



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: (Not much) Hot chocolate, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Being an Idiot, Adrien needs a good parent, Adrinette | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Akuma Attack, Andre's ice cream, Angst, Angsty marinette, Awkwardness, Caring Adrien, Caterwauling, Comfort, Confusion, Crying, Cute scenes, F/M, Feels, First Crush, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, Hurt, I did what I could to ease reader pain, Kissing in the Rain, Love, Marichat, Marionette slaps Adrien, Mentions of Heartbreak, Mild Angst, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square, Nicknames, Not breakup yet end of relationship, OC - Gianna, OC mention - Abeille the new bee heroine, OMG ARE THEY TOGETHER AGAIN?!, One sided reveal, Post-Episode: s03 Miracle Queen (The Battle of the Miraculous Part 2), Prompt Response, Realisation, Romance, Shy Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Shy Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Sorry Not Sorry, Swearing, Sweet Ending, Sweet Kisses, THE FIC IS FINALLY COMPLETE, Time Skips, Umbrellas, Very sad end, adrien is salty at gabriel, angsty adrien, caring plagg, emotions and feels, forgetting memories, gabriel agreste's a+ parenting questioned, heart to heart talks, ladrien, love in the rain, memories are tricky, plagg being adrien's true guardian, side character oc, tikki is motherly as always
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:02:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 36,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24421744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniNoire/pseuds/MiniNoire
Summary: Her eyes as blue as the merciful drops from the heaven. His eyes as green as the happy grass enjoying the heavenly showers.A tale of how forgotten umbrellas in the rain bring together the four lovable sides of the Love Square.In the Rain fic, reposted by the same author under a new name
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Plagg, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Tikki, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Tikki
Comments: 88
Kudos: 108





	1. A New Friend, A New Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [theriveroflight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theriveroflight/gifts).



> Based on a prompt by [ theriveroflight ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theriveroflight/pseuds/theriveroflight) :)
> 
> A gift to River for giving me this beautiful prompt. The prompt suggestions are what gave this story it's backbone
> 
> Kudos to beta readers [ wellsaltedlady ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wellsaltedlady), [ khanofallorcs ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khanofallorcs/pseuds/Khanofallorcs) and [ sagansjagger ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sagansjagger/pseuds/sagansjagger)!!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Misunderstandings washed away with the rain, how does a black umbrella become the foundation of a new relationship?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adrinette :)

Today had sure been a day of emotions for her. 

Anxiety on nearly being late on the first day to school, relief on helping the old man cross the road safely, shock and terror on seeing Ivan transform into that giant stone-monster thingy and happiness on making one, no two new friends that day!

Tiny, cute bug-mice that granted you jaw-dropping superpowers to save the day did count as friends, right?

Ah! The uncertainty, the awkwardness and the despair that had flowed through Marinette on nearly failing as a heroine on the first day itself….

But all those negative thoughts had evaporated the moment Chat Noir, her new partner-in-crime-fighting-whose-identity-she-did-not-know showed his trust and faith in her. That moment had pulled her into such a happy whirlwind of positive emotions, giving her the strength to show Hawk Moth that he would **NEVER** harm the Parisians as long as the cat-and-bug duo were there.

Make _the new friends she got that day_ count as three.

Marinette had greatly enjoyed the secretive pleasure of hearing Alya ramble on and on about how fabulous Ladybug was, and how the reporter was going to ask for an interview soon. Well, maybe Alya could get the best friend’s credit on that.

And then, of course, Chloe Bourgeois had to be there to add her own two cents. Usually Marinette would have been angered, but this time, ha! Roasting Chloe was sure a good way to give the walking Barbie her just desserts.

And then that Mr-Front-of-the-Cover-Teen-Model-Weekly had the guts to stick chewing gum to her seat…

**Ugh!**

She sure had given that bully-in-making the requisite treatment to correct his behavior. Why did these people born with a golden spoon in their mouth think they have a right to bully whoever they wanted to, no matter even if they were freshmen in school?

Whatever, Marinette wouldn’t let anyone, and she meant ANYONE, dampen her thoughts. Today had been the best day for her, and she would surely welcome the sunshine that awaited her outs-

When did the weather forecast say that today was going to be a rainy day?

Feeling the rain with her hand, the ravenette contemplated her options. Her home was nearby, she could run home at the risk of getting fully soaked (and maybe sick later), or she could stay here and wait for the rain to stop.

The second option did feel better. And even if the rain lasted long, her parents would surely come to pick her up. And then again, she could utilise this time to talk to her little new friend about he-

“Hey!”

Damn her plans for any talks, for Mr. Rich Guy was here.

He _won’t_ get her attention. Nope. The best way to deal with people like him and Chloe was to just ignore them. So that is exactly what she was going to do.

The boy moved forward and opened his umbrella. All the while, Marinette just internally wished for him to go. She really wasn’t in a mood to deal with him after all. She knew how it was going to be. He will try to apologize for the morning incident, saying he meant it as a friendly prank only and then, he would try to win her heart with his charm and stuff. Ha! As if she would fall for this pretense, especially after having dealt with the stuck-up Chloe Bourgeois for so long!

“I just wanted you to know that I was only trying to take the chewing gum off your seat. I swear. I've never been to school before. I've never had friends. It's all sort of new to me.”

Okay. This was unexpected.

He was trying to remove the gum from her seat? _Why_ for the heavens’ sake should she believe him?

But she had never seen him exactly putting the gum there. He had just been hovering near her seat meddling with the gum when she and Alya had stepped in, and well...Mari had just assumed what seemed to be crystal clear at the moment. She never gave the boy a chance to explain himself.

What if it was _her_ who had been wrong by jumping to conclusions?

She had followed Gabriel brand enough to know that Adrien Agreste had always been home-schooled.

But...he’d _never_ had friends?

The ravenette racked her brain hard, and no, she could not come up with any paparazzi feeds or headlines that claimed Adrien Agreste to have been spotted out playing with children his age. Wait, no paparazzi headlines ever mentioned Adrien Agreste _ever_ getting out of his house except for photo shoots, especially after Emilie Agreste’s mysterious disappearance.

And of course, he would have met Chloe Bourgeois because of her mother, Audrey Bourgeois aka the Style Queen, and they would have spent time together. But that didn’t mean they were friends. Especially noting the way the boy had cringed and then gotten sad when Chloe had laughed at her expense.

Damn. Marinette surely had assumed things. The best thing to do now was to get it all cleared.

Thinking this to herself, the girl turned her head to the boy, only to find him drenched in the rain, looking at her with a smile on his face, a little uncertainty in his posture and -

-he was holding his umbrella out for her, even as she stood in the safety of the building.

Any other rich guy, no matter _how good_ he would have been at pretending, would surely have been irritated by this point. After all, no one liked to get drenched in the rain for a stranger just for the sake of being their fake friend. No.

But what if, this guy …. he was too good at this _charming-the-ladies-off-their-feet_ thing?

_A person’s eyes would never lie_.

Uncertain bluebells clashed with soft, grassy green as thunder flashed in the grey background. And that was when Marinette saw it in his eyes.

The confidence of telling the truth. The hope of making a new friend. The shimmer of honesty. And the evident concern for _her_.

Once again, Marinette was pulled into the whirlwind of some pleasant emotions she couldn’t describe at the moment as she gingerly took the umbrella from the boy. As their fingers brushed, a pleasant tingle ran up and down her spine.

Wait, _what_?

Staring at him, Marinette was still sorting her newly-found feelings out. She must admit, the boy was handsome and cute, but this was all complementary with the sweet, angelic personality he posses-

**SNAP!**

Who for the sake of magic shut the lights out????

As the self-proclaimed queen of clumsiness fumbled with the sudden darkness, an angelic, tinkling laughter reached her ears. Confused, she lifted the umbrella flap up gingerly to find the blonde laughing.

_Oh goodness_. He looked so angelic and handsome….-ly sweet! (is that even a thing?!)

Well, his laughter sure was contagious, for it made Marinette join him with giggles, too. “See you tomorrow,” he said with a smile, then turned around and walked down the stairs.

“Uh… see you to…mo… tomo… Haha! Whoa, why am I stammering?” the girl wondered.

It surely hadn’t been the effect of the mop of sunshine that was walking down the stairs?

Tikki flew up to her cheek. “Hey! I think I might have an idea.”

How much the poor ravenette tried (and failed) to hide her blush…

She _wasn’t_ in love.

“Or maybe I am,” she sighed as she watched the black sedan depart with the personification of sweetness.

Picking her bag up, as she walked down the stairs, Marinette finally realized..

Yep. Now that love had joined the emotion party for the day, Marinette could say, her day had really been miraculous.

* * *

“First day of school and we already have two lovebirds,” Adrien heard his new cheese-loving friend snicker.

“Whatever. She's just a friend. Oh… a _friend_ …” the realization coming to him, the blond couldn’t help the smile that came to his face. He not only managed to mend ties with that sweet girl, but also had her as his friend.

Cool superhero duty, awesome crime-fighting partner, and permission to go to school and make friends…

Yep. Today’s day had really been miraculous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story also shared on my [Main tumblr](https://mininoire.tumblr.com/) and [Writing Tumblr](https://noirewrites.tumblr.com/).
> 
> If you are looking for a friendly MLB community to discuss your ideas, plots or share views regarding the show, or to simply be a part of a MLB server, join the [Miraculous Fanworks Discord server](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks) today!


	2. Chocolate with Chat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thunderstorms mean hot chocolate! Hot chocolate best served with whipped cream, marshmallows and....MARICHAT!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marichat!! Glossary provided at the end! :)

“And there, all done!” the blond boy exclaimed, stretching himself as he got up from his chair.

“Phew! I thought that homework of yours would never end and I would have to stay up all night with you, kid!” complained the tiny, floating cat-god of destruction.

“Plagg, is that another way to say that you would have been cheesily romancing your _sweet-smelling_ Camembert all night while I would have been smashing my head on the desk, pleading for you to stop?”

“Hey! I never complain when you are all flirty with Ladybug or Pigtails!”

“I do not flirt with Marinette! She is _just_ a friend, Plagg,” Adrien defended.

“Oh really? Then why have your cheeks suddenly decided to compete with Ladybug's superhero suit in colour, huh loverboy?” 

“ _Embarrassment!_ ” squeaked the part-time superhero, as he slapped his hands onto his cheeks and fervently tried to ignore the cheshire grin his cheese-loving friend was directing at him.

Nope. _Nope_ . **_Nope._ **

Marinette was _just a friend_. Ladybug was the real love of his life.

Ugh! He needed fresh air! **_Now!_ **

Maybe Plagg read his thoughts, for he suddenly spoke up, “Nuh uh, kid. If you are thinking of going out for a run, not now. It is gonna rain soon.”

The kwami, sadly, was right. Dark clouds were looming in the sky.

But what better chance to escape would he get than now, especially with Father and Nathalie out on a business meeting?

It would be a quick, short run. Nothing less, nothing more.

The boy looked with his best kitten eyes at the floating furball, but he didn’t relent. And Adrien really couldn’t afford to buy the floating stomach any more Camembert. Not that he had run out of money, but bank transactions made for wheels of smelly cheese? Suspicious. (And no one certainly wants Gabriel Agreste’s secret agents skimming through their money matters. Nuh uh.)

So, there was only one way left to get Plagg to agree.

“So Plagg, are you afraid of getting drenched in the rain, huh?”

“Nope. What makes you think that, kid?” the kwami asked dismissively. 

Internally the kwami thought, “ _What is this not-so-smart chosen of mine trying to do?_ ”

“Well, I see no other reason as to why you would not agree to us going for a run. The rain hasn’t even started yet! You are a cute little kitten at heart after all, right, Plagg?” As he said so, Adrien reached out and scratched the kwami lightly behind his ears.

_Oh heavenly Camembert! The petting felt so good!_

The kwami purred instinctively. “Aww, Plagg,” the blond said in a sugary-sweet cookie voice ( _bleh! cookies!_ ), “who is a good kitty, hm?”

“I. Am. **NOT**. A. Kitten!”

“Oh really? Prove it, then!

Challenges were one of Plagg’s main weaknesses. (After Camembert, of course.)

“Kid, I am NOT scared of rain!” With a grumble, the kwami added, “You know the magic words.”

“That’s the spirit! Plagg, **_Claws Out!_ **”

One cool transformation sequence and scratch-dance later, Chat Noir stood where the model had been a few moments ago. Flexing and stretching himself like a feline, the superhero grabbed the baton clipped behind his back, and jumped onto and out of the open windowsill into the awaiting city.

* * *

Jumping over rooftops with the cool wind blowing on his face sure was exhilarating. 

The black-leather-clad boy was enjoying his sprint when suddenly something wet hit his head.

_Wait, wet?_

Looking up, Chat Noir caught just a glimpse of the heavy, dark clouds before **_SPLAT!_ ** Another drop fell on his forehead.

Damn, it hadn’t even been half an hour and he needed to get home soon. It wouldn’t do him good to fall sick, especially when he _technically_ had not been out in the rain.

Breaking into another sprint, Chat Noir prepared himself to scale the alley in front of him when he felt the roof under him move. Or rather, his foot was moving back faster than normal.

With a yelp, the cat lost his footing and slid down the slanted roof into the alley below.

**_Oh god no! He surely wasn’t in the mood to be soaked-cat-pancake today!!_ **

Grabbing his baton, Chat pressed the pawprint on it just in time for the device to lengthen up and get lodged in between two open windows (truly the luck of a ladybug), leaving him hanging from it, badly shaken but safe and sound.

As he tried to get his bearings back, he heard someone entering the dark alley.

“It surely is raining _Chats_ and dogs today,” a familiar voice called out from below.

“Purrincess!” Chat exclaimed, shrinking his baton back to normal and landing softly (and with _normalcy_ ) on the ground.”To what does this knight owe the purr-leasure?”

“Well, I was passing by, and saw you experimenting whether Newton was correct with his claims about gravity,” Marinette said, bursting into laughter. “Sorry _chaton_ , I just couldn’t help myself. Especially after that nerve-wracking study session I had with Alya.” The girl held her forehead in a dramatic manner. “Oh goodness! Woe is me!”

The superhero-in-black couldn’t help but chuckle. “Well, well, little lady. Have you secretly been taking drama lessons from my kwami in exchange for cheese danishes?” Chat added with a wink.

Earlier, Marinette would have had to act all stupidly confused about what a kwami was. But now that Chat knew that she was Multimouse, things were a lot easier between the two. 

Ever since Chat had first appeared on her balcony an year ago, the two of them had struck a chord. Somewhere, maybe in the banters, puns or the heartfelt emotions shared under the starry sky, the two of them had grown close, becoming the best of friends.

“Who knows? Maybe I am?” she said nonchalantly with a shrug, a hint of smirk visible on her face.

Striking up a mock thinking pose, Chat commented, “Well, well, mice love cheese. You two would have surely bon- **_ACHOO!_ **”

The sneeze seemed to bring Marinette back to awareness that the teenage superhero was soaked head-to-toe in the rain.

“Damn, Kitty, which wise sage gave you the advice to go patrolling on a day like this? Come’ere,” saying so, the girl pulled him in with herself under her umbrella. “Good thing I left Alya's place after the rain started and she gave me this umbrella, or else I myself would have been drenched by now. Forgetful me. But anyways, you," she said, shoving a finger in his chest and eliciting an “ ** _oof!_ **” from him, “are coming with me and getting all warmed up before you catch a cold. I won’t accept a no,” she added, making the cat hero close his mouth that he had opened in hopes of protest. Instead, he smirked and bent down in an elaborate bow.

“Your wish is my command, _ma princesse_.”

His comment was rewarded by an eye-roll and slight chuckle.

* * *

Marinette ushered the young superhero in through the backdoor, away from the prying eyes of any customers, and especially her parents.

However, it seemed as though Chat’s bad luck had finally caught up with them (or more specifically, _her_ ) as she opened the door to the house only to find her dad standing there, in a position that clearly showed that he had been about to open the door just a moment ago.

“ _Mon petit cupcake_ , welcome back! How were your lessons with Al...” her dad’s voice trailed off as he noticed the cat-themed boy behind her.

Meanwhile, Chat was a bit….nervous? Queasy? Or was terrified a more appropriate word? After all, having seen and been beaten up by Weredad had NOT been a pleasant experience. And who knows what thoughts were right now running through Mr. Dupain’s mind on seeing his daughter (whose heart Chat had once broken) with him? It was extremely natural for him to feel self-conscious all of a sudden. But now that he had been noticed, well. 

“Hi, Mr. Dupain,” the boy weakly offered, plastering a shaky, nervous smile on his face.

The huge man kept looking at him blankly. Chat started mentally pep-talking to himself to deal with this awkw- **_WOAH!_ **All the air left the boy’s lungs as he was suddenly scooped up in a teddy-bear hug.

“My goodness, Chat Noir! Superheroing has sure made you go thin, my boy! And please, just call me Tom,” the baker said laughing.

“Su-sure….thi-thing, Mr. Dup-I mean...To-Tom,” the hero wheezed.

“Papa! Chat Noir will be able to call you Tom only when you give him some air to breathe!!” Marinette interjected, worried that the black cat might pass out soon from the lack of air.

“Ah! Sorry young man,” Tom put the boy down, clapping his shoulders. “I must say, you are all drenched! I don’t know if that suit is designed to keep you from getting soaked, so get warmed up and stay here till the rain stops, okay?” He turned to Marinette, “Sweetheart, make sure to keep our guest cosy. We wouldn’t want our superheroes to fall sick, after all! In case you children need anything, Sabine and I will be downstairs. Have fun!” With a booming laugh, the guardian of the house took his leave.

“Well, that hug certainly warmed me up,” Chat said, breaking the silence. “I am glad he is not mad at me anymore. For the...uh, you know..”

The ravenette smiled and placed a comforting hand on his shoulders. “It wasn’t your fault, Kitty. What I had was a fleeting celebrity crush. And what really makes me glad is that you truly adore Ladybug. Now,” grasping the blonde hero’s shoulders, Marinette turned him around, pushing him up the stairs, “go up and dry yourself up. You will find the towel on the chaise, if I remember correctly. I will make us some hot chocolate.”

“Okay, okay, _princesse_ , I am going up!”

Saying so, the hero went away and Marinette busied herself in the kitchen. She had just put milk in a saucepan when...

“Wow! I must say, your room sure has some interesting decorations, purrincess!”

_Interesting decorations? Wait, she had taken off the Adrien pictures from her walls and.._

**_GOD!! Did she leave her computer on??!! Oh, hell no!!!_ **

Dashing up the stairs, Marinette threw the trapdoor open, not caring about the banging sound it made. She COULD NOT let the sauve cat see the heart doodle background of Adrien on her computer!! Oh goodness, she would never hea-

Her computer was turned off.

Laughter attracted her attention, making her turn her head to see the teenage hero on the ground, laughing and struggling for air.

“Oh. My. Kwami. Tha-that rea-reaction...wow princess! **_HAHAHAHAHAHA!_ ** You just made my day!” He broke into another fit of giggles.

“Not. Funny. Dry yourself up, _chaton_ ,” the girl deadpanned, giving him her best you-do-not-amuse-me look.

“Aww come on princess,” Chat said, putting up a mock pout as he literally crawled towards her, “don’t be a wet blanket, paw-lease?”

“Wet blanket? What on earth are you- **_CHAT, NO!_ **” the girl screeched as all of a sudden, the hero shook his head, spraying water droplets on her.

Stopping the activity, the hero looked up at her flirtatiously through the wet hair that had fallen in front of his eyes, water still dripping from them. “Chat, yes, Purr-incess,” he said, winking at her as he flicked her nose.

Damn. He looked so flirtatiously ho- 

_NO! Bad Marinette!_ _Your heart is reserved only for Adrien._

Well, best to break the kitty’s smoulder.

“No cookies for you,” saying so, the girl smugly walked down the stairs, ignoring the mock wail of despair that followed her.

* * *

Coming down, the superhero eyed the girl carefully who was sitting at the coffee table, two steamy mugs of hot chocolate and a plate of cookies kept in front of her.

He seated himself carefully opposite her, not breaking eye contact. 

All was calm and serene.

The aroma of the chocolate was enticing, making Chat inch his gloved hand towards the warm mug, all the while keeping eye contact. Marinette smiled and let him take the mug.

So far, so good. Maybe all was safe.

Inching his hand discreetly forward, his claws had just felt the freshly-baked sugary delicacies when **_SLAM!_ ** A feminine hand gripped his hand, stopping it from getting the cookie.

“Nuh-uh. Bad kitty. You have been forbidden, remember?” the girl smirked.

“Purrincess! Have some mewcy on this poor, homeless alley _chat_ , pawlease?”

“After those three _extremely bad_ cat puns, I am not even going to rethink my decision, cat.”

_Damn. Well, kitty eyes to the rescue!_

Pulling up the most appealing eyes he could, Chat stared at the girl with a cute pout. At first, she showed no emotion. But then, he saw her mask of indifference shift a bit.

_Just a bit more, just a bit. Almost there…._

“Ugh! I need immunity against kitty eyes!” the girl harrumphed in displeasure, shoving the plate of the heavenly baked delights towards the boy.

“Yaas!! My princess is the sweetest!! The kindest, the most loving-”

“Dive in before I change my mind, kitty,” the girl said with an eye roll. But seeing her amused expression, Chat knew she would not. She really was kindness incarnate.

Biting into the sugary sweetness, Chat Noir couldn’t help the moan of pleasure that escaped his lips, making the girl giggle. Giving her a cheshire smirk, he proceeded to make funny and weird voices, followed by singing off the cuff at the top of his voice and making his audience shut her ears and stick her tongue out at him.

The sound of rushing footsteps followed by the door opening with a **_SLAM!_ ** was what made the cat stop.

“Who’s hurt?” asked a worried and dishevelled Sabine, only to witness a scene of two teenagers blinking at her stupidly, one sitting on her chair with her ears shut and the other standing on his chair with his hand on his throat as if he had been singing. Realisation dawned on the woman’s face and she gave the teens a small smile. “Serenading and having fun is good, children, but don’t scare us. All that screeching led me to think that one of you had accidentally burned themselves. Kids can be clumsy after all,” directing a small motherly glare to Marinette, the woman left.

The teens stared at the door, then to each other. And finally, the girl couldn’t contain herself, bursting out in a fit of giggles.

“Don’t know about earlier, but someone sure was just burned,” she sing-songed, making the blonde hero cross his arms in mock displeasure.

“You just don’t appreciate my talent, Princess. Meow-ch, my poor, poor heart, all trampled upon by your comments,” he said, wiping a fake tear away.

“Whatever _chaton_ , come and have your chocolate before it gets too cold.”

Like a cat who had just been offered a canary, Chat eagerly got down from his perch and seated himself properly on the chair. 

“Want some whipped cream and marshmallows, Chat?” Looking at the full-of-calories baked goods the girl offered, Chat mentally calculated how his diet would be affected. _Extra calories and carbs aren’t good for a model._ Well, modelling be damned for the pleasures of life.

Grabbing the things, Chat decorated his hot chocolate with enough cream and marshmallows to fail all his diet plans. Maybe he could send his dietician a pic? Nah. No matter how much Chat hated them, he wasn’t cruel enough to give the poor person a heart attack.

Inhaling the sweet aroma, the boy sipped the wonderful beverage. The thick, creamy flavor tingled his taste buds, making him all warm, happy and giddy inside.

“Wow Marinette! This. Is. The. Best. Hot. Chocolate. I. Have. Ever. Had! Welp, it is a bit cold now, but still! How did you bring this delicacy to existence?”

“Just added melted chocolate to nearly-boiled milk,” the girl said with a shrug, taking a sip of her beverage.

“ ** _AS EASY AS THAT?_ **” Slamming his cup down, Chat stared at the girl as if she had just claimed to have seen dinosaurs roaming on the Earth.

“Yep. But then again, cooking is an art. You need to have patience and need to know the tricks and tips to make the best out of it.”

“Wow. I thought cooking was just about standing in front of a sizzling barbecue grill and looking handsome in a ‘Kiss The Chef’ apron,” saying so, the hero suggestively wriggled his eyebrows, making the girl facepalm.

“You will never learn, Kitty. Anyways, how is civilian life going for you?” Quickly realising how close to identity reveal the question sounded, she quickly backtracked, “Not like I am asking anything that will hint at your identity, just a question of concern, and oh goodness, I should totally have phrased it in a better way and now my rambling is making me look like a total dumbo and I shou-”

Chat’s laughter was what paused her rambling. “Oh worry not, _petite souris_ , I got your point. And I must say, this cat finds your squeaking quite adorable.” He finished with a wink, making the girl blush.

“So, about my civilian life, it is going….good. Yeah,” the boy sobered up. Marinette noticed the conflicted expression on his face as he seemed to be uncertain about sharing something.

Putting her hand on top of his, the girl did her best to comfort him, “Kitty, it is purrfectly fine if you don’t want to share, but in case something is troubling you, I am always here.”

The Parisian superhero looked at the girl. Her bluebell eyes comforted him, gave him reassurance that he could trust her, and let his feelings out without being judged.

“Just because you used a pun princess, I will gladly tell you.” Letting out a chuckle, the blonde let out a sigh. “You see, my civilian life is not...uh, as great as yours. I mean, it is good, surely, and then I have my friends, school, LB, Plagg, you...” he looked up at the girl with a sincere smile, before continuing. “Sometimes, though, it gets a bit overwhelming. You see, school, classes, and pho-uhh...the line of work that I’m in requires a flexible work schedule, what with essential personnel often cancelling and management rescheduling events at the last minute, hehe. I rarely get time for any true quality time, after I somehow squeeze in the patrols in my already hectic routine.”

The girl gave his hand a light squeeze, “You can always ask your parents to cut down some stuff, telling them you need a break. I am sure they would agree.”

The masked boy looked to the side, his face set in a deep frown. “Parents…” the word itself left a bitter taste in his mouth. “My Father did remove a few activities after I joined school, but he insists that the rest… I need them to become a learned person, the best face of the fa-...family business. An-and I know he means well...no, not just well, he wants the best for me, bu-but….” He took in a shaky breath, steadying himself, trying to control his emotions that suddenly had somehow decided to burst out of the secret corner of his heart.

“Father...he keeps working, all day long. I know he keeps a tab on what I do in school and the other activities, but that...that is just because his assistant keeps an eye on these things. I wonder if he even knows which teachers I have at school.” Letting out a mirthless chuckle, the boy couldn’t stop the words escaping him, “I know he cares, he shows it….but the occasions, they are so, so….rare. Is it selfish of me, his only child, to dema-demand some father-son time from him? To ask him to see...how his son is faring in school?:" 

"To yearn for his support, his affection, on coming-of-age matters that I, literally, have no sense about? To hope that every night, before we retire for the day, we have just one parent-child talk? But noo, he just remains absorbed in his own work, his own room, momentarily coming to check upon me and even then! Even then, he is cross at me, for not doing things the right way!” 

Eyes closing shut, Chat continued, “He doesn’t understand! That, just like others, I am a normal child! Who seeks parental affection and personal advice, and not awkward talks and platitudes from his father’s personal assistant! It is like, like there is a thread connecting us, but, but, I can feel it snapping, vaporising, just something like that! And I am trying to hold on, to the..the last bit of family that I have left, especially after..after Mother… sh-she...” his voice trailed off.

He couldn’t continue. No. The truth just… _hurt_ so much. He had always had those thoughts buried somewhere in his heart, but now that he had let them out, it just pinched. He hadn’t even realised the intensity of these emotions until he saw how parched his throat had been from screaming his last thoughts out, and how quiet the room had become, save for the sound of the thunder outside and his ragged breathing as he tried to calm down the storm of emotions that had erupted inside him.

Gathering himself, the boy spoke again, “I-I am acting all stupid. I am a hero, I am supposed to be strong, and not let these… these fickle emotions aff-”

A pair of arms wrapped around his torso from behind, making him pause. Caught in his storm of emotions, he had never acknowledged her get behind him.

“Shhh Kitty, it is fine. You are a hero, and yes, you are supposed to be strong, but that doesn’t mean you can’t let your emotions affect you sometimes.”

Marinette broke from the hug, crouching herself in front of the superhero’s chair and turning his face towards herself. Seeing those luminescent, feline emeralds swimming in an ocean of sadness and agony, the girl’s heart clenched. She surely could not whisper fake, sweet nothings to him for his temporary soothing, but she could give him the much-needed support in the best possible way.

“Chaton, your Father surely loves you, in his own peculiar way. And, I don’t really know how tough it is, but, things will surely work out between you two. Just… give it some time. And, subtly tell him, that you do need his attention in your life, too.” 

“Do you think I didn’t try that, Mari? I did it for months, but he. Doesn’t. Notice.”

“Well then, Chat. There is only one thing to do. When you go home, march up to your dad’s room, shove away anyone who tries to stop you, and TELL him how you feel! That will definitely smack some sense in him,” her face softened, “you should never be afraid to stand up for yourself, Kitty.”

Giving the boy a tight hug, the girl affectionately ruffled his hair. “You are not selfish for demanding all that, Kitty. You deserve it. You surely do. Trust yourself, everything will work out in the best way possible.”

Chat hugged her back tight. “ _Merci beaucoup, ma princesse_. It really means a lot.”

“Always, kitty.”

The teens stayed like that for a while, when a beeping from Chat’s baton broke them out of their reverie.

“Oh, I guess that’s a cue for me to leave, _petite dame_. It surely had been a nice Chocolate with Chat session with you. I really look forward to the next meet,” the hero said with a wink.

The girl returned the gesture with a curtsy and giggle, “Trust me, _mon chevalier en armure brillante_ , the pleasure has been all mine.”

“Well then, I guess I must take my leave. This cat really needs to scat before his fur gets too wet!” The boy turned to the balcony and was about to jump out when he felt a pull on his tail-belt. He turned to the girl with a questioning look in his eyes.

“Chat, wait! I have something for you, I guess,” saying so, Marinette scampered off to her room, only to return a few moments later with… an umbrella? No, was it a black hat?

Utterly confused, Chat took the _thing_ from the designer’s hand, turning it around in curiosity.

Wow. The thing was actually a hat, with a small stand to support a mini umbrella on it. An umbrella wide enough to shelter the wearer’s head from sun or rain.

“Uhh...” As Marinette began, Chat turned his attention from the hat to its creator. “I just… well, you know, I was trying this out as a means to enable you and Ladybug to do patrols even in extremely bright or rainy days...like, of course you guys need something to protect yourself from the weather. So, this idea just hit me and I made it for fun. And well, you see tha-OOF!”

Chat tightly hugged the girl, and broke off with a look of adoration in his eyes.“Thanks a lot, Princess. This is really cool! I love it!”

“R-really?”

“Pawsitively! It is the thought that counts, and I am sure Ladybug would appreciate it too!”

“Tha-thanks Chat. That was nice to know.”

The hero moved over to the balcony, putting the hat on his head. A perfect fit. Awesome.

“No worries, Princess. Thanks a lot again! And I am glad I am the first to try this thing out! I will surely leave my reviews about it! Till then, _au revoir_!” With a two-fingered salute, the boy jumped off the sill and into the rain, this time protected by a token of appreciation of one of his closest friends.

“ _Au revoir_ , _mon chaton_ , I hope you stay safe and happy always,” the girl whispered to herself, the cool wind carrying her words away with it.

* * *

**Bonus:**

A rapping at her trapdoor woke the ravenette up from her slumber. Groaning in frustration for having been disturbed from her peaceful sleep by a certain green-eyed blonde, she went to the balcony, only to find a letter awaiting her there.

_Chère princesse des souris,_

_Once again, thanks for that lovely gift of yours. It sure helped this alley cat reach his home all safe and sound. And your sweet advice helped me, too. I told my Father subtly about how I would like to spend more time with him, and well, it is really nice having a family dinner together with someone other than Plagg. You must be sleeping, so I will leave my gratitudes here in this little letter of mine._

_Looking fur-ward to another session of Chocolate with Chat._

_Votre chevalier en armure brillante,_

_Chat Noir_

  
  


“Silly kitty”, the girl said fondly, smiling and shaking her head as she kept the letter close to her heart and descended back into her room, unaware of the happy feline eyes that had been waiting for her appearance the whole time.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ma princesse - My princess  
> Mon petit cupcake - My little cupcake  
> Petit souris - little mouse  
> Merci beaucoup - Thank you very much  
> Petit dame - little lady  
> mon chevalier en armure brillante - My knight in shining armor  
> Au revoir - goodbye  
> Chère princesse des souris - Dear princess of mice  
> Votre chevalier en armure brillante - Your knight in shining armor
> 
> Story also shared on my [Main tumblr](https://mininoire.tumblr.com/) and [Writing Tumblr](https://noirewrites.tumblr.com/).
> 
> If you are looking for a friendly MLB community to discuss your ideas, plots or share views regarding the show, or to simply be a part of a MLB server, join the [Miraculous Fanworks Discord server](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks) today!


	3. A Lost Love Rekindled, A New Love Rediscovered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post Miracle Queen, confusion and heart break prevails for our love square dorks. Will the rain play its role in retying the threads of the square that's breaking apart?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sweet, Angsty and a bit fluffy and humorous Ladrien xD!

Heavy downpour sure is a blessing for many. It rejuvenates life, removes the thirst of parched lands, becomes the symbol of eternal love…

Lightning flashed in the dark sky, only to bring into view the silhouette of a girl swinging over the city of love, sprinting on slippery rooftops and jumping over alleys. A yo-yo zipped out of her hands, wrapping around a distant lamp-post in the local park. Giving the string a tug, the girl sailed in the sky like a ladybug until…

… She felt the string slip, her hold slackening as gravity pulled her down. Not getting time to brace herself for the impact, the girl fell on her side, sliding in the mud for a short distance before coming to a stop.

Pain shot up her body as she gasped for air. No scream escaped her lips, though. How could it? Her throat was already raw due to all the screaming she did earlier.

The girl rolled lightly on the ground, cradling her left shoulder, her teeth clenched and eyes squeezed shut in pain. Maybe she should have used the teleportation powers of Kaalki to get out of the city, then she surely wouldn’t have got stuck in this rain. But she still couldn’t risk taking the Miraculouses out. Hawk Moth knew she was the new Guardian of the Miraculouses. Plus, who knows what information that conniving man had acquired from Master Fu when he had held the old man captive? No, Ladybug surely could not take the risk, at least not until she came to terms with the new reality.

Responsibility had not been ceremoniously bestowed upon her. No. Circumstances just threw the entire burden of the magical jewels and the city on the teenage girl’s shoulders without warning. There was a limit to how much she could handle, after all. The emotional collapse she had had in front of Luka… that was just the tip of the iceberg. With Lila hell-bent on ruining her ties with everyone, the responsibilities of Paris and the Miraculouses on her shoulders, her entirely messed-up and disastrous love-life and her own stupidity being the cause of the loss of the Great Guardian… Marinette had been a walking farm for akumas. Tikki had suggested she go to the countryside, far from the range of akumas, to let her emotions out. And that’s what she did. 

Letting out the rage, the frustration, the despair, the agony, the hurt had helped a bit. But as she now lay on the ground, her body figuratively screaming at her for the exertion it faced, somehow, Ladybug couldn’t stop the deprecating feeling of being clumsy and useless from washing over her. Her eyes again brimmed up with tears she thought she had run out of.

  
  


“Is that Ladybug?”

The voice snapped the heroine back to attention. No. Ladybug was Paris’ beacon of hope. She wouldn’t let them see her down.

Shakily getting up, the heroine barely suppressed the wince that escaped her as her strained muscles begged for her to stop. Looking over to the civilians who had been rushing to help her up, the girl gave them a short smile and wave, and yo-yoed away.

Another benefit of the heavy downpour? The world never gets to know that you’ve been crying.

* * *

Exhaustion crept over her, and one thing was clear. She wouldn’t be able to make it home like this.

Glancing around wearily, the heroine searched for a quiet place where she could give her limbs some rest. It won’t do her or Paris any good if she got ill. Especially when she was the Guardian of the city now.

A familiar mansion caught her eye. Specifically, a window that always remained open. 

Her heart clenched, remembering the heartbreak she had felt the day everything went wrong. No. She wouldn’t take his help. Maintaining the distance between them was the best way to reduce her ache.

But her body wasn’t hearing any of it, for she felt herself sway as she took another step.

Looking at the mansion again, the girl debated her choices. Did she have the strength, the will to look at him, be near him, and remind her heart that no matter how much she desired, he would _never_ be hers? She had seen _them_ that day, the model with the fencer, staring into each other’s eyes like they were the only ones who existed. How _she_ had leaned into him, and he didn’t back off. How they… how they _clearly_ had feelings for each other. 

As darkness started to creep into her vision, she made her choice.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. He was the only one right now whom she could trust. She could deal with her heartbreak later.

* * *

Romancing Camembert without spectators was... Well, _not fun_.

Plagg was busy spouting poetry at the best dairy product in the world (try changing his mind) when he noticed that the background ‘appreciation’ was missing. 

Gazing at his chosen, the kwami noticed something was off. Like, way off.

“Adrien?”

No answer. 

Well, this was new. Might as well take some risks.

The little being gingerly took the cheese to the boy’s nose.

_One. Two. Three._

“PLAGG! What the actual--?” the blond finally screamed, coming out of his stupor.

“Kid, you were lost. Like actually lost, unresponsive! You had me freaking worried! Now spill, what is the matter with you?"

The blond merely sighed, running his hand through his hair as he stared at the photo on his phone. 

Selfies of him, Marinette and Kagami.

Focusing on the Ladyblog window on his computer screen, Adrien let out a sigh again.

“Plagg, I am. So. Confused.”

“Confused why, kid?” the kwami worriedly asked.

“It is just that, my thoughts… they are all haywire. I… I don’t know what I want, what love is like. Everything is so, so… confusing. So many questions, so few answers,” sighing, the boy closed his eyes.

“Spill it, kid,” the little being offered. “I might not be a love expert, but maybe I could help? It is about Ladybug, right?”

“Yeah. Kinda,” the blond muttered. “I mean, I said I would love the girl beneath the mask, and I really do! But... Does she love me back? I mean, she sure sees me as her partner and of course cares about me as her best friend, and I-I do cherish that friendship, but… but I still hope for more, Plagg. Her constant rejections, frustrations at my flirting, and her admission of having a crush… They make me wonder, am I doing the right thing? Chasing after her like that?

“Like, that time when we fought Frozer, I did feel I was a tad bit too pushy. I don’t want to push her away, Plagg. But I need some certainty now… I don’t know what to do. Should I chase after her? Or should I give up? But then again, Plagg, if I am even thinking of giving up, doesn’t that mean that my love isn’t true? Ughh,” the blond buried his face in his hands.

“Kid, some other day, I would have happily advised you to leave the females and get together with my gooey delight. And I sure am not as good with all the mushy lovey-dovey stuff as SugarCube, but for one point, kid, I think chasing after the mask is only going to end up with you getting hurt.”

The kwami sat atop his chosen’s head, patting his blond hair, “You don't know who exactly she is under the mask. Chances might be slim, but maybe she is some snobby co-model you hate? Or she hates your model self? Who knows, she might be crushing on someone who hates your guts? Or maybe some sister-like best friend of yours? Or your classmate?”

“There are so many possibilities, kid, that going after the uncertain while leaving the certain is nothing short of tomfoolery. You have that Kagami girl, Pigtails, and many more! My point, kid, is just that chasing after a mask is only playing with your own feelings,” the kwami buried himself in the boy’s hair, purring and providing the human with a sense of comfort.

“But Plagg, what if..”

A whirring sound followed by a dull **_THUD!_ ** interrupted the blond and his kwami zoomed away to a convenient hiding place. What the boy saw shocked him.

“Ladybug?!”

The heroine in red-and-black-polka dots merely groaned in pain. Adrien ran over to help her, worried out of his wits seeing his crime-fighting partner all muddied and in pain.

“Ladybug? Is everything alright? Is there an akuma?” he asked hurriedly.

“Re- Rest,” was all the girl muttered before her eyes shut.

* * *

Her head felt so heavy, like she had just been hit by some jumbo mental truck. Blinking the dark spots away from her vision, she looked around .

Big windows beyond the grey banisters. Nice view outside. The girl snuggled deeper into the sleeping bag.

Wait. Sleeping bag? Grey banisters? Big windows?

**_WHERE WAS SHE?_ **

Panicking, Marinette nearly shot up straight, only to groan at the feeling of headrush and plop back down.

So, she was in some unknown place, sleeping in someone’s sleeping bag. She didn’t remember how she ended up here. The only vague memories she had were of sprinting on the rooftops in the downpour when she had decided to give in to her exhaustion and shelter herself in the Agreste Mansion…

She had been Ladybug before passing out.

Panicking once again, the girl frantically glanced at her arms. Only to find them covered in the familiar red-and-black polka dotted spandex. 

Her identity was safe.

She heard footsteps climbing up a staircase.

“Ladybug? Are you awake?”

Oh dear Lord. She had certainly entered the mansion with a steeled heart, but hearing his enchanting voice, the girl felt her resolve crumbling, the choking pain of heartbreak washing over her once again. 

_I can’t do it... I can’t do it... It hurts, it still hurts…_

“Ladybug?” She felt a cool hand on her forehead. So cool, she couldn’t help but lean into the touch.

“Oh, my god! You are burning up! Why were you out in the rain?” the owner of the hand exclaimed. 

Oh! How much she wished to tell him the true reason. That she had gone out to escape being Ladybug, the Guardian of Paris. That she had wanted to be one normal teenager, free to let her emotions out without the risk of an evilized butterfly or feather turning her into a rampaging monster. That she had repented her tomfooleries, let out her frustrations with the Liar, and let her tears flow freely at the pain of the heartbreak he had caused her, even if unknowingly.

_You are not Marinette right now. You are Ladybug. Be confident, composed._

“I just needed some fresh air, and well, got stuck in the rain. But I am fine, thank you,” pushing herself up with her right hand, the girl struggled to disengage with the sleeping bag and stand up.

Only for a sudden jolt of pain to shoot through her left leg, causing her to scream as she felt gravity dragging her down. 

Too shocked by the sudden pain, the girl merely closed her eyes, bracing herself for the impact.

Which never came.

Opening her eyes, she looked into the concerned grassy greens that she had fallen in love with. And sadly, looking at them didn’t help her fall out of love. Instead, it only acted as salt to the burn of her heartbreak.

“You okay?” 

His voice was too soft, too caring, too loving for... for _just a friend_ , but, who was she to ignore the truth? The truth that he loved the strong Kagami, not the clumsy Marinette. That he had feelings for the fencer, not the baker girl. That he had shared a sweet kiss with a ravenette with brown eyes, not the bluebell ones.

_Stay calm, stay calm, stay focused! You are NOT in love with him._ Her brain screamed.

 _You_ **_can’t_ ** _be in love with him._ A soft voice from her heart spoke.

“Ladybug?”

Pulled back from her thoughts, the girl gathered herself quickly and flashed him a smile, straightening herself again. “Oh! I am alright, I am fine, it must be just a bit of exert-AAH!” Another wince escaped her as her left foot pained the moment she put it on the ground.

“You're not fine! You fell quite badly on your left side when you entered. I guess it needs to be checked.” Adrien exclaimed with concern, bending down to examine her foot.

“Oh no no! There is no need for that! I am fine! Yeah, I really am,” the girl fervently explained, her voice a bit high due to embarrassment (or was it uneasiness?).

The wince that escaped her again as she put her left foot a bit too hard on the ground didn’t help her cause.

Adrien merely shot her an unimpressed look. “Ladybug, don’t be so stubborn.”

“I am NOT being stubborn!” she protested, “And I am really fine. In fact, I guess I must go. I don’t wish to overstay.”

No matter how rude it sounded, she needed to maintain her distance. For her own safety and sanity. No, she just came here to rest and now that her limbs were rested a bit, she could make it home and snuggle in the comfort of her own bed, snuggling with her cat pil- **_WOAH!_ **

Ladybug squeaked and turned an awesome shade of scarlet as she felt strong arms pick her up, bridal style. 

“Wh-wha-what the hell?” the girl squeaked.

“I am sorry _porte-bonheur_ , but you sure need to get that foot checked. So, allow this meagre civilian to take you down the stairs and check your foot. Paris can’t have her guardian angel in pain and discomfort,” Adrien replied, a hint of a smirk on his face. And was it just her, or was the boy blushing?

Shaking her head, she cleared her thoughts, mentally steeling herself. 

_You can’t get hurt again. Your feelings matter. He sees you as just a friend. You can’t deal with the pain of one-sided love, especially with the responsibility of the entire city on your shoulders._

_…_

_He smells good. His arms around me feel good. His concern is genuine. No matter what, his kindness shines through._

The irony. The more she stayed near the sunshine, the more clouded her resolve of not falling in love became.

* * *

“Thank goodness it is nothing much, just a mild sprain due to muscle exertion I believe,” the boy exclaimed in relief, holding the spandex-covered foot with care. “I guess a little first aid will do just fine, but you seriously shouldn’t be running on rooftops for a day or two at least. Your foot needs rest.”

“I know, but- ” the heroine didn’t need to voice her thoughts. It was clear, her identity must remain a secret. There wasn’t a way she could enter her home without concealing the mask, and of course she couldn’t take her mask off in front of Adrien, no matter how much she trusted him.

_What if_ , Adrien thought, _she_ **_did_ ** _conceal her mask? And took it off midway?_

“Ladybug, I think I might have a plan. Plus, you are all muddied up. Wanna take a shower?”

* * *

At first, she thought he was joking. But when Adrien told her his plan, she assumed that was the only way out to help her reach home with her identity safe. And she sure needed a bath.

“I will go get you the clothes and towel, okay? And here is the first aid kit on this shelf,” the boy pointed out, then walked out, shutting the sliding door behind him.

Blinking, the girl stepped into the bathroom, shutting close the glass doors as she dropped her transformation. The kwami flew out, looking with slight worry at her chosen.

“Marinette,” she started to speak, only to be interrupted by the girl’s query.

“Why does it hurt so much, Tikki?”

“Oh. Well, the magic of the miraculous is supposed to act as a cushion for all the hits that you take, but since you are very much exhausted yourself, and I was trying to keep the energy safe for holding the transformation as long as possible, I couldn’t cushion your falls much and...”

“I meant my heart.”

“Oh,” the kwami fell silent. “Marinette, you will be alright.”

“But when Tikki? When?” the girl nearly screamed. Stripping off her clothes, she started pouring her feelings out, “For two years, I have been trying to get him to notice me as someone more, and he sees me as Just. A. Friend. And now, when I try to get over him, try to bury my feelings for his and Kagami’s happiness, he...he is again stealing my heart! I know, I bloody know he doesn’t mean to hurt me, I know that it is his caring nature, but, but… Tikki, I can’t take this! I can’t. Why, why does fate have to be so cruel? Why?”

“Marinette, it is okay to fall in one-sided love. It hurts, surely it does, but you don’t always have to conceal your feelings. Love is a rocky boat; don’t let it overwhelm you. I am not saying this because you are Ladybug, but I am saying this because you have a full life ahead of you, and it will have its share of ups-and-downs. You can’t let it burden you like this.”

The girl took in a deep, shaky breath. “I agree, Tikki. I guess- I guess I really need to get my mind off these things. I am glad I accepted the offer for shower though, this will surely help.” Smiling, she fiddled with the taps for the suitable temperature of hot water and stepped inside.

The warm water relaxed her tensed muscles, the mud from her body and the tension from her mind going down the drain as she let out a relaxed sigh.

And that was when she heard the sliding door open.

* * *

Adrien knew he was screwed the moment he opened the sliding door.

_Leaving her in the dressing area while you went out to collect her things, were you expecting her to be standing here and waiting for you to escort her to the bathroom and maybe turn the shower on for her?_

He seriously needed to stop reading Ladyblog fanfiction.

“Wh-who’s there?” the cute squeak brought him out of his thoughts, making him look in the direction of the (thankfully shut) bathroom.

Oh. Damn.

Adrien was really thankful for having installed frosted glass for the entirety of the bathroom door instead of just certain portions. And bless Ladybug for having chosen to have a hot shower. Really.

“Uhm, LB, it’s just me, Adrien. I mean, it is really, totally, absolutely creepy for me to uhm turn up here, but…..uh….I got you these clothes to change into. I mean, I don’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable and stuff, so I brought them here to be on the safe side.”

Hearing a muffled squeak from inside, he suddenly realised that there might be some little bit of _hidden meaning_ in his words.

Quickly backtracking, he spoke (rather squeaked) again,” I MEAN!” He coughed out the girlish tone from his voice. ,“that, uhh, you obviously would not want to be in my room in just a towel and,” another squeak from inside, “I DIDN’T MEAN IT LIKE THAT AGAIN!! Just that, uhhhhh... Well, here is some soap and shampoo I got. The ones I have, they are… Uhm… Too manly and you are of course feminine and, uh… Well, I shouldn’t be asking but uh…”

“Adrien, I am a female, I can assure you,” a giggle came from inside.

“Oh! That’s good! Really good! Good in NOT a weird way!!! And uhm, uhhhhhhhh… I will just leave you to shake the tower, I MEAN TAKE THE SHOWER!! IgottagoleftthefrontdooropenEnjoytheshower!!!”

Slamming the slider door shut, the blonde slumped against it, sighing in relief as he wished for the cool humid wind to cool his rapidly burning cheeks down.

Plagg shot out of his hiding space. “So, Ladybug, after nearly two years of being your crime-fighting partner, I couldn’t help but wonder, are you really a female?” the kwami snickered.

“Say it again and you are going on a Camembert-free diet for the next two weeks.”

“Whatever, kid. Tikki wants to talk to you.”

* * *

Adrien sat on his bed, the little red kwami floating in front of him.

“So, uhm, Adrien, Plagg told me about some… issues you had regarding your feelings.”

Oh. So this was what the talk was about. Well, he did need advice after all.

“Yeah. You see Tikki, I can’t understand what love really is. I mean, what I feel for Ladybug, is that really love? Or just mere attraction? I guess I need a definition, a meaning to that word. I… I really don’t know what love means... Am I, am I even capable of loving?” 

The little bug smiled, placing herself near the boy’s cheek as she gave him a small kwami-hug. “Adrien, of course you are capable of loving. And what you feel for Ladybug, only you yourself know. Just understand that love doesn’t have a definition or meaning. If it does, it isn’t love anymore. Love is supposed to be an emotion, a feeling, thinking about which makes you feel warm right here,” she pointed to his heart.

“I do feel good with Ladybug, but she keeps rejecting my advances. And I- I really don’t want to push her away. Plagg said I should stop chasing the mask and focus on real things. But if I don’t fight for my love, doesn’t that make it weak?” the boy elaborated, still a little confused.

“I understand. But again, Plagg is right. You never know who the girl behind the mask is, Adrien. She could be anyone. What if she turns out to be someone whom you cannot love romantically, even if you wanted to?”

The red kwami floated in front of him, speaking in a motherly tone, “The feelings you feel for Ladybug, they are somewhat fuelled by the Miraculous too. The black cat and the ladybug symbolise the yin and the yang, and naturally, being parts of a whole, they attract each other. But then again, the synergy of each holder is different. You see Adrien, we have had many romantically involved holders, but then again, we have had heroes who were siblings, parent-child or even enemies-turned-friends behind the masks.”

“The fated bonds of each generation of holders are different, so chasing the mask….it is like loving a person you know next to nothing about. The mask serves as a different identity for the holder, they might not be what you believe them to be. It might all be a façade, you never know.” 

The little being moved to pat the boy’s head gently, “That’s why, the best thing is to go for the reality in front of you. If ever you and Ladybug are meant to be, fate will surely bind you two together, Adrien. Right now, given her rocky civilian life, she seeks a best friend in you, someone she can really trust. Be that friend to her.”

The boy smiled fondly. “Even Plagg said the same thing. And I will be the knight in shining armor for Bugaboo.” He continued, “But Tikki, civilian-wise, there are two girls I deeply care about, but again, I can’t tell. Are my feelings for them friendly? Or are they deeper than that? And even if I fall for either one of them, will she love me back?”

“That is a contemplative question. Did, by chance, any of them give you any hint of something more than affection?” the kwami pondered.

“Well, one was a bit forward. And the other, she is a bit awkward around me, but the more we talk, the better it gets! However,” his face dimmed all of a sudden, “the last time we spent time together, she just disappeared like that. And when we met again, it was good, but I could feel some tension between us. I don’t wanna lose her, Tikki.”

The kwami smiled, knowing about which two girls he was talking about but staying quiet. “Well Adrien, just give it some thought. Your heart already knows the answer. And as for falling in love, it is many times about taking risks.”

A muffled voice came from the bathroom, “Tikki? Are you there?”

“I must go now, Adrien. It was a pleasure to meet you!” the little being chirped.

“Thanks, Tikki, and really, the pleasure was all mine. I will definitely think upon your suggestions.”

As the kwami zoomed back into the bathroom, Adrien turned to his computer desk. Only for his attention to drift to the fencing match group photo he had there.

Specifically, a girl in red who was in the photo.

_Kagami is a nice competitor and an equally nice friend. Sure, she has an icy fa_ ç _ade, but I know the bubbly girl beneath it. Our meetings, our banter, the occasional flexing and punning….they were as fluid as those with Ladybug, And well, just like LB, she surely has handed me my behind on a silver platter many times._

_She and Ladybug are so similar: rolling eyes at my puns, responding wittily to my flirts, bantering with me. She is so like Ladybug._

That’s when the realisation hit him. He had been falling for Kagami because… because....

_I see Ladybug in her. And when she responds back, it seems like… like it is Ladybug returning back my feelings._

_I...I don’t love her in a romantic way for who she really is. And I don’t want to hurt her or lead her on. I did try loving her, but no, I can never see her as anything more than a friend, a competitor._

“I...I loved the shadow of Ladybug I saw in Kagami, not the real Kagami.”

“High time you got your senses back, kid,” Plagg commented.

Ignoring Plagg’s quip, Adrien delved back into his thoughts. Kagami wasn’t someone he could see a future with. Sighing, the blond began to turn around, only for his sight to fall on the charm bracelet on his hand.

_Marinette._

Her name itself brought a smile to his face.

_As awkward, shy or clumsy as she is, I am really grateful to have her as one of my closest friends. Especially after the gum misunderstanding. I really appreciate the brave, strong and kind leader beneath the shy girl nature._

_And then again, she is the best person I can share my thoughts with, be it as Adrien or as Chat. Her parents are sweet, she herself is Kindness personified. His Everyday Ladybug. Standing for the truth and the good. Imagining life without her presence...no, not possible._

_Marinette, she feels like-no, she_ **_is_ ** _my home._

The realisation hit him like a truck. Somehow, buried within his feelings for Ladybug, another little stream of feelings for a certain ravenette had sprouted, only to make its presence known to him now.

* * *

As he was coming to terms with his newfound feelings, Adrien heard the slider door open. He lifted his head up only for his eyes to take in _radiance personified_.

Ladybug stood there transformed, her body a bit hunched up in… shyness? Over her spandex suit, she now wore a cute Chat Noir hoodie (with the pun _Mewty Purrsonified-_ so true!), a pair of red ankle-length leggings and black ballerinas. But the best part of it all, she kept her hair down.

All of a sudden, Adrien’s mind travelled back to when Marinette had put her hair down.

_His Purrincess sure would have increased the glory of these haphazardly made combinations by her sweetness and beauty._

“Uhm, Adrien?” 

Pulled back into the present world, the blond looked at the heroine questioningly.

“Uhm, does it… Does it look alright?” she asked, her face turning a bit red as she bashfully tucked a stray hair behind her ear.

“Well, I- I must say that pun really suits you,” he complimented.

“Yanks tou, I MEAN thank you so much! I really appreciate all the help.”

Flustered, she looked around the room to escape the green gaze of his eyes. Only for her eyes to rest on the fencing photo on his table.

Her good mood instantly evaporated. Before she could control herself, the question that had been troubling her for the entire time spilled from her lips.

“That’s your girlfriend, right?”

* * *

Her stuttering reminded him of Marinette. He couldn’t help but find himself smile at all those cute mix-ups she had around him.

_Me, scared? Pfft, it was a dream. I mean, you're a dream. I mean, in your dreams! Huh? Oh, this is a nightmare…_

Oh, Lord, she had called him a dream.

“That’s your girlfriend, right?”

Of course, he would love to have her as his girlfriend. “Yeah, sh-”

Wait. **WHAT?**

Snapping back to attention, Adrien noticed Ladybug looking intently at the photo on his desk. The photo with Kagami in it.

Why the hell did she think Kagami was his girlfriend?! The last time she had seen them together, they both had been eating ice-cream and... 

Oh. 

They _had been_ eating ice-cream when Kagami had decided to make a move, and Ladybug had accidentally interrupted them (and saved him, kinda).

Of course, she thought what seemed to be the most obvious thing at that time.

“NO! I mean, nope, she isn’t. I know you walked in on us at, uhm, a certain timing, but it was her making a move. But I see her only as a friend, nothing more.”

The girl looked shocked and… Was that relief? Maybe he was overthinking things. “So, you two are not a thing?”

“Nope. I am single as of now, but well, a certain person has captured my heart. I just didn’t know it until now.”

Smiling, the boy looked down at the lucky charm bracelet on his hand. “She is the sweetest girl I have ever known. As clumsy and awkward she might be at times, she is kind and brave too. I can share my thoughts with her, without feeling overwhelmed. She is one of my first and closest friends.”

Closing his eyes, he reminisced of the time when his Purrincess helped him and Kagami escape from their stuffy parents, and when she left them at the ice-cream cart. It suddenly clicked to him why. “Just like you, she believed me and Kagami to be a thing, I guess that’s why she left us at André’s. I agree that orange and peppermint is a perfect pairing and that nothing can turn it into a mess, but you know, perfect never has the taste, the enjoyment, the thrill of a new creation or experiment.”

The boy turned the beads on the bracelet, totally unaware of the gaping look that Ladybug was giving him.

“I guess, even though the blackberry thinks that the mint might consider her lame and might want to be with the orange, the mint himself is kind of a fun-loving guy. Blackberry and peppermint might be an explosive mix, but oftentimes it's the opposites that attract. And one thing I know for sure, the mint is in love with the blackberry, his Everyday Lady- **_LADYBUG_ ** are you alright?”

Adrien had turned to look at her only to find her...crying. _Why was she crying?!_

Nodding quickly, she wiped her face, flashing him a happy grin, “It’s no big deal. I ju-just, I am happy for you Adrien, that, that you found someone wh-whom you love. She...the girl, she is really lucky to have you!”

“No, I am the lucky one to have fallen for her at last.” he smiled, then turned serious, “But let’s get you out of here now. It would be easier without Father and Nathalie at home. Plus, your parents might be worried now.”

“Yea-yeah, let’s go.”

The boy headed out of the room, the rapidly-blushing heroine following him.

* * *

Gorilla knew her to be a civilian whom Ladybug had deposited at his house after she found the said-civilian shelterless in the rain. She had pulled the hood up, the cat ears looking cute on her petite frame. And thankfully, the hoodie paired with her hair down helped hide her masked face from any prying eyes.

As Adrien led her out the main door, they noticed that the rain had started again.

“Oh, glad that I got this thing here,” he said, opening up a Ladybug-themed umbrella and handing it over to her.

Thunder flashed, and Ladybug was pulled two years ago, to the _first rain they had shared in College Françoise Dupont, the first time they became friends and the first time she fell in love._

**_The entire thing, exactly the same._ **

Only the setting and the situation changed, and one person wore a mask.

Yet, it was still as beautiful, as enthralling, as memorable as the first time. Especially with her knowing that her feelings, though a bit late, were finally reciprocated.

Mustering all her courage, Ladybug stood on her tiptoes, kissing the boy on the cheek. 

“Thank you for all you have done, Adrien. I really appreciate it.”

His shocked expression morphed into that dazzling sweet smile of his. “Anytime, _porte-bonheur._ ”

Flashing him another grateful smile, the girl walked away, limping slightly, as Adrien watched the Ladybug umbrella go down the subway stairs, pause and turn a bit, then disappear into the subway.

Looking up at the sky, as the cool wind fanned his face, a boy was thankful to rain for helping him realise his first friendship and love, and somewhere nearby, underneath a Ladybug themed umbrella, a girl was thankful to the rain for making her fall in love twice.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Porte Bonheur - Lucky Charm
> 
> Coming up next, slight Adrinette this Friday! Stay tuned!
> 
> Story also shared on my [Main tumblr](https://mininoire.tumblr.com/) and [Writing Tumblr](https://noirewrites.tumblr.com/).
> 
> If you are looking for a friendly MLB community to discuss your ideas, plots or share views regarding the show, or to simply be a part of a MLB server, join the [Miraculous Fanworks Discord server](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks) today!


	4. When Our Paper Boat Floats in The Water of Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Love is like a river, a never ending stream. Love is shared by each other, To answer someone's dream. **(~Mon-Kolom)**_  
>  And in the water of this stream my love, our little paper boat floats, capable of braving any heavy rains that may come our way, because it was rain itself that tied together our red strings of fate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a respite chapter before our Ladynoir part of the square. :) Enjoy and review!!

“Will you go to the ice sculpture gallery with me?”

Silence reigned in Miss Bustier’s classroom. A silence so heavy, so dense, you could cut it with a saw. 

Such was the silence, that the fifteen children in the room could hear the cars outside on the road honking, the hum of the desktop computer and the soft squeal of someone shifting on the cushion they sat on. 

Fourteen pairs of eyes turned to the petite blonde girl in the back. “Sorry,” Rose whispered, shrinking a bit in her seat as Juleka patted her back comfortingly.

The attention shifted back to the front. Specifically, to the two dorks over whose _just a friend_ relationship most of the class had bet nearly three whole months of pocket money.

“Mat do you wean?” Marinette blubbered, her eyes bulging out at how stupid her words really sounded that moment. 

The boy smiled. “What do I mean?” he replied, chuckling as the girl felt her cheeks heat up. “Will you go out with me? Like a….uhm, a date? If you want?” His hand reached up behind his neck, a sheepish smile crawling on his face.

Silence again. Well, near silence, considering a brown-haired Italian girl in the back was gritting her teeth too noisily.

Marinette blinked, then blinked again. This must be a dream. **_It had to be a dream!_ **

_Was Adrien Freaking Agreste really asking her out?_

Her brain started its quick mathematics (with a speed that she wished she possessed in Ms. Mendeleiev’s pop quizzes). _Adrien asking her out = Adrien having feelings for her = 99.54% chance of Adrien eventually falling for her (given her clumsiness might account for the 0.46% uncertainty) = Adrien and her getting married in future = Emma, Hugo, Louis along with her dream house, a cat, NOPE, a hamster being a reality and the cute little hamster would finally get the name she had decided 3 years ago, that was-_

“Marinette? Will you?” Coming back to reality, the girl saw the question swimming in Adrien’s eyes.

_Oh goodness, it really was happening! Why was it happening? She couldn’t be so lucky._ **_Yeah, there was-_ **

**_“NO WAY THIS IS HAPPENING!”_ **

Shocked silence. A resounding facepalm. Green eyes clouded with the pain of rejection.

Bluebell eyes bugged out with the realisation that she had just spoken her thoughts out loud at the worst time possible!

_Mon Dieu! It is too early to put that 0.46% uncertainty in action!!_

Clasping her hands over her mouth, Marinette did her best to undo the blunder, “MEEP! I-I-I did-didn’t me-mean th-that! It wa-”

Her messed up words were drowned out by the class’ sudden uproar.

“Of course you didn’t mean that!”

“No way she just rejected him after all these years!”

“Girl, girl, girl…”

“Marinette, you couldn’t have meant that! Fairy tales aren’t supposed to go like that!”

“Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous! Accept that proposal, Dupain-Cheng, I’m not losing like that!”

“Alya, I won! Now give me my….”

The triumphant voice trailed off as Lila noticed the scathing glares her peers gave her.

Silence reigned in the room again, this time tensed, as the attention shifted back to the front.

Marinette was still freaking out at the _stupidest mistake of her entire life_ when a sigh nudged her back to reality.

Adrien was speaking.

“It is okay, Marinette.” He shrugged.

**_Okay? Nothing is okay! I messed up big time!_ **

**** “Adr-Adrien..” 

“I get that you do not like me…”

**_Of course I like you! I have not been romancing all your photos, ads and cutouts for practising Romeo and Juliet!_ **

“...You have told me the same on many occasions…”

**_Just to prevent you from knowing that I have a universe-sized crush on you! Seriously, I thought about things and I feel. Freaking. James Bond style. Stalkerish. Is that even a thing? And no Alya, you DO NOT GET TO FACEPALM knowing how idiotic things happened between me and Adrien in the wax mueseum!_ **

“It is-isn’t like tha-”

The boy smiled ruefully, “I know you are saying this just to make me feel better. But I am all good! I know you have feelings for Luka…”

**_Luka? Luka Couffaine? How the hell did he strum his way into this mess?_ **

“...and that he feels the same for you..”

Her eyes bugged out. “WHAT?” 

**_LUKA FEELS THE SAME FOR ME? BU-BUT, IS-ISN’T HE…_ **

“My brother has a boyfriend,” a quiet voice spoke from behind.

**_EXACTLY! Thanks Jules!_ **

“Oh!” Adrien seemed...surprised. But catching himself, he continued, “Still, I know you see me as just a friend and…”

**_Just a friend._ **

**_Just A friend._ **

**_JUST A F...R...I...E...N...D…_ **

Something raged inside Marinette, hearing those Three. Damned. Words. “Oh goodness, I SWEAR on the name of EVERYTHING holy and lovable!” she screamed, shocking everyone in the room. “Fuck this _Just a Friend_ drama and..,” Grabbing a petrified Adrien Agreste by his collar, Marinette kissed him on the lips, pouring out the frustration of all the years into that one sweet gesture.

As she pulled back from the dazed-but-certainly-ecstatic blond, the class erupted into wolf-whistles, cheers of “HELL YEAH! IT HAS BEEN TOO LONG!” and thunderous applause, perfectly masking out the angered string of Italian words being spewed out from an unknown corner. 

“So...so I take that, as a yes?” the smirking Agreste asked the now-flustered girl.

“OMG! You guys just made me a fortune! I am going to celebrate! The Adrinette ship is finally sailing!!!” Alya squealed, counting the thick wad of Euros Lila tossed at her, grumbling.

Adrien couldn’t help but laugh as the love of his life hid her flushed face in his jacket. 

Three years back, Marinette had caught his attention right from their first interaction. On later thought, he had found the feeling refreshing. The feeling of not being treated as _the_ Adrien Agreste, but just like some random new kid.

Somehow, the clumsy girl who got herself caught in the umbrella had found a special place in his heart. Her opinions, her advice, her happiness, everything, big or small, had mattered to him. He simply had been in denial of his feelings for way too long.

And it was his sheer luck that Marinette waited for him. That even though she had multitudes of people who cared for her and showed their affection for her, she ultimately chose him.

Alya was partially right. Adrinette was finally sailing. But it was not a ship.

**_No._ **

Adrinette was a paper boat. Tiny and meagre, yet a true beauty in its own. A paper boat that sailed in the rains. The rains that had brought them together.

_Yes. Adrinette was a paper boat that now sailed in the waters of love._

Everything was just purr-fect.

* * *

Jessica was nervous. The ice exhibition was the first time she'd struck out on her own in the field, after all. Moreover, with just two hours before the show began, Gabriel Agreste, her sponsor had decided on an impromptu lookover. Getting the strict and critical fashion designer as a sponsor was one thing, but having him critique the work at the last moment…

“ _Chérie,_ you are biting your nails again. Feeling nervous?”

Snapping back to attention, the young artist smiled sheepishly at Michael, her boyfriend and self-proclaimed personal assistant. 

Michael continued, “It is alright, _flocon de neige_ , I have full faith in you! Mr. Agreste will surely like your designs, don’t you worry!” Patting her back, he enthusiastically continued, “You didn’t put all your heart and soul into these icy creations for nothing! Now, close your eyes. Focus on your breathing. Yes, now deep breath in, deep breath out, repeat and relax. There, that’s good!”

Feeling calmer, the young artist beamed, hugging the man tight. “Oh, Mike, I don’t know what I would do without you! You are a lifesaver!” Feeling his strong arms wrap around her, she sighed and snuggled closer.

“Miss Laurain?” 

Breaking apart from her love with a yelp, Jessica met the cool gaze of one Nathalie Sancoeur.

“Oh! _Bonne après-midi,_ Ms. Sancoeur! I was just waiting for you and Monsieur Agreste,” the sculptor spoke in a highly cheerful tone, trying to hide the nervousness in her speech. Her eyes darted around in search of the fashion mogul. “Umm, is Monsieur Agreste not coming?”

“I am here, Mlle. Laurain.” The sculptor and her beau looked at the tablet in the lady’s hand and met her sponsor’s gaze on the screen. “We may begin the inspection, please.”

“Su-sure, Mr. Agreste, this way, Ms. Sancoeur,” Mike ushered the lady in. “I will join you all soon, just need to get the lighting checked!” Flashing a polite smile, he sneaked a pat to his girlfriend, whispering a “you will do great!” to her as he went off.

She could do this. This was her dream, her passion. No way anything was going to go wrong. And Michael was always there to catch her.

* * *

She could not do this. Her dream was shattering. Everything was going wrong. And where the heck was Michael?

“Bu-but, Monsieur Ag-Agreste,” she said, “th-that’s not fe-feasible! T-they will melt, sooner or later!”

The man in the tablet raised his hand. “Sorry, Mlle. Laurain, but I am not interested in sponsoring art pieces that cannot survive for a long time. People are going to come by, see them, praise them a bit and then forget all about them. Moreover, your sculptures lack a bit of finesse. My apologies for this last moment decision, but I am taking back the sponsorship.”

The tablet turned off, leaving the devastated sculptor to stare at the now-black screen. 

A screen as black as her future. 

Voices filled her ears. The years of taunts, what-ifs and ridicules slowly creeping into her mind, haunting her terribly, drowning out any outside source of sound.

_Hopeless, useless line of work. Why don’t you pursue a career which has guaranteed success?_

_You should have tried stone sculpting, why freeze your fingers working on statues that won’t last at all?_

_Ice sculptures are a short-lived beauty, which no one will care about to see while they last._

She numbly registered someone running up to her, hugging her tight and ruffling her hair as they promised to get everything back on track. They left again, given the sound of the receding footsteps. But Jessica knew it couldn’t be done. Gabriel Agreste had been crystal-clear with his words.

_not interested in sponsoring art pieces ….. cannot survive for a long time….come by, see them, praise them a bit and then forget all about them…. sculptures lack finesse._

Finesse her foot! She hadn’t spent 2 years cooped up in a refrigerated room learning the talent only to be told in the end that her ART. LACKED. FINESSE.

Despair and anger filled her up as she numbly fiddled with the snowflake pin in her hair. The one Michael had lovingly put there, nicknaming her “Snowflake.”

What kind of a snowflake was she if her hands couldn’t work out the magic from ice? Were her past years nurturing her passion all a waste? And who the hell did Gabriel Agreste believe himself to be to downright trash her art, her passion, her ice like that?!

“Lady Frostine, I am Hawk Moth. You are one of the best ice sculptors in Paris. Your art is exceptional! Still, Gabriel Agreste tried to find flaws in it, despite the fact that he knows next to nothing about this beautiful art. But it is time for revenge. I grant you power over ice and snow. In return, all you have to do is get me the two miraculous from Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

Ah, Revenge. Jessica couldn’t help but let out a low chuckle as the purple bubbles engulfed her form. “Consider the deal to be sealed, Hawk Moth. Gabriel Agreste, now you will know that revenge is a dish best served... _ice_ cold.”

* * *

“What do you mean the exhibition is cancelled, Nathalie?” Adrien asked, slight worry evident in his eyes.

“Your Father pulled out from the sponsors list, Adrien. And given that he was the sole sponsor of the show-”

“Oh okay. I get it. The usual.” 

“Adrien!”

The boy turned around to see his date come running. And darn, that blue sundress of hers really brought out her eyes, making her look like an angel.

Coming to a stop, Marinette flashed him a triumphant smile. “Phew! Made it just in time! Sorry, I had to run some errand on my way here. Oh! Hello Ms. Sancoeur.” 

The stoic woman returned the greeting with a curt nod.

“So, Adrien,” Marinette said, turning to him, ”Shall we go in?”

“Uhm, actually...” Adrien cracked a nervous smile, his hand reaching behind his neck. ”The exhibition got cancelled. Circumstances,” he added with a shrug.

“Oh, okay,” the girl said, sadness creeping in her voice.

“However, there is something else we can do. I noticed André somewhere nearby, so if you want, we can-”

“Oh of course! I love André’s ice cream!” She perked up, beaming at him.

_Damn, why did she have to look so cute while being happy for something as normal as ice-cream?_

“So, shall we go, _Princess_?” he asked, offering her his arm. 

And froze at how her eyes widened slightly.

_Idiot! She doesn’t know you are Chat Noir!_

But then her cheeks turned a beautiful shade of red as she shyly took his arm, “Of course, _my prince._ ” 

_Lord help me, for this girl is going to kill me with her cuteness._

* * *

Nathalie watched with a slight smile as the two teens walked away. _I am glad_ , she thought, _that he finally found someone to bring the light back to his eyes._

So sad that the date was going to be ruined soon.

Knowing her job here was done, Nathalie turned to leave when she was stopped by someone calling her name. She turned around to see the sculptor’s boyfriend running up to her, his body language clearly indicating tension.

“Ms. Sancoeur, p-please,” the man huffed, catching his breath then continuing, “Jess put in her everything to create **_La ville glaciale de l'amour_ **. I am sure Monsieur Agreste is aware about the attachments someone has to their art, especially if they are up and coming. Please, please do not pull this sponsorship away. Jessica did her best to symbolise Paris in the most beautiful way. She even incorporated such vivid ideas and imagination tha-”

Nathalie put up her hand, stopping the young man from speaking. “I am sorry for whatever happened, Mr. uhm-”

“Arseneau.”

“Mr. Arseneau, thank you. My condolences for the decision made at the eleventh hour, but Mr. Agreste’s word is final. I am sorry but there is nothing I can do,” the stoic woman replied in her cold and emotionless tone.

“Bu-but you nee-”

**_“No need to beg her not to take away the sponsorship, mon coeur,”_ **a voice boomed from behind.

Michael felt a shiver run down his spine, a shiver that wasn’t due to the temperature. It was due to the realisation that the voice that had just spoken was that of his love. Her beautiful voice was now frozen and twisted, dripping with icy venom.

He turned around to come face to face with the woman he knew in an unfamiliar form. She wore a dark, high-collared purple dress that sparkled with a gloomy sheen in the sunlight, a long cape billowing behind her. Her hazel eyes had now turned an icy-blue shade and her normally wavy blonde hair now sat in a dark, spiky updo with a crown of icicles holding it up. 

A crown of icicles with an eerily-gleaming snowflake in the middle.

“Jess?” he whispered, shocked to see his bubbly girlfriend in all her cold glory.

“The name’s Lady Frostine, my love, and I am going to show everyone in Paris the beauty of ice! Starting with HER!”

Michael stared in horror as Lady Frostine whipped her hands out to let out a jet of ice particles that hit Nathalie, instantly turning her into an ice statue.

“Jess! You are not in your right mind!” Michael tried to reason with his clearly uninterested girlfriend. “This is NOT the way to get people notice you!” 

“Oh Michael, always the level-headed one. You know what?” Lady Frostine flicked her hands, and moments later, a shocked Michael found himself trapped in a cage made out of icicles. “I really don’t have the heart to freeze you, Love, but maybe staying here in this icy world might clear your head a bit. I will come back for you later. Right now there is an entire kingdom to create. Love you!” 

Blowing him a kiss, Lady Frostine disappeared in a flurry of snowflakes, leaving behind a confused man desperately hoping for the Lucky Duo to come to a quick rescue.

* * *

“That’s too bad,” Marinette said, frowning. “Your dad shouldn’t have cancelled it at the eleventh hour.”

Adrien merely shrugged. “Well, that’s Father. You know how unpredictable he can get at times.” Sighing, the blond added, “Personally, I am not surprised. By the way, what was your errand?” 

“Oh! Remember that umbrella you gave me when we first met? I had to get it a bit repaired and modified. Themed a bit after Chat Noir. Black is his color after all, right? And I couldn’t find any umbrellas themed after him, so I thought it would look great but, damn, I forgot to ask you and-”

“It’s fine, Mari. Anything you plan turns out great!” He smiled at her, making her shrug her shoulders as she blushed.

André fawned over the couple. “Ah! Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng! My favorite customers! And is that love I see in the air?” 

“Yes André, we are finally together,” Marinette answered, blushing as she leaned into her boyfriend.

“Well well, I always knew the explosive mix was sure to come together! Blackberry and mint together, an exquisite pair! Here you go, you two, enjoy!”

Thanking the ice-cream man, the couple went to sit on the stairs of the Seine. Somehow, even though she had dreamt about this nearly _a zillion times,_ Marinette felt extremely nervous now.

_Sitting with Adrien, eating the soulmate ice cream on the banks of the Seine, this must be a dream. No way I am so lucky! Oh, my gosh, I must act proper. What if I go all clumsy-mode and Adrien gets scared and runs away? NO, NO, NO, then I will be the unluckiest girl in the world, no one would love me and I will wind up all alone with only a hamster named-_

“Marinette?” 

Pulled out of her thoughts, she gazed into the grassy emeralds that she had fallen for. Her gaze travelled down to see the spoonful of ice cream he held out for her.

_Oh Lord, this is finally happening. I am going to share the soulmate ice cream with Adrien and-_

“Now Gabriel Agreste will see the real **_La ville glaciale de l'amour!_ **”

SERIOUSLY? AT THIS MOMENT?

The teens turned around to see the raging akuma freezing people randomly. The area around her froze itself, the ground covered in shimmering ice. The Seine had started to freeze as well.

No doubt this akuma was the sculptor from the cancelled show.

They looked at each other, and it was Adrien who saved Marinette the trouble.

“Seems like she is after my Father,” Adrien said, his face set grim, “so naturally, I might have to pay for his stupidity. It would be better if we split up. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

_I can very well take care of myself, but I need to save you!_ Marinette wanted to argue, but right now Adrien’s suggestion was the best solution. Giving each other a nod, the two teens split up, each hoping to find a place to transform soon to take care of the mess.

* * *

**_“Gabriel Agreste!! Come out and-”_ **

“ _Agrestes, Agrestes, Agrestes_. Fangirls after Adrien Agreste, akumas after Gabriel Agreste. Seriously, they have the entire city in chaos, don’t they, Icy?”

Lady Frostine turned to see Ice Chat leaning on his baton, smiling languidly.

“The name’s Lady Frostine, kitty cat. Soon-to-be queen of this icy city of love. And as a matter of fact, I believe that you have something that belongs to one of my well-wishers.”

“Ah! A regal akuma, asking politely for my ring. Seriously though, what is Hawk Moth going to do once he gets my ring? Play dress-up?”

“With power comes regality. But I do not have time for your stupid gibberish. The ring, Cat,” the akuma extended her hand, her voice a little terse.

“Well, you ask very nicely. But the thing is that this ring wa- **_MEOWCH!!_ ** ” the hero jumped out of the way of an ice blast, landing in a crouch. “Hey, I was just trying to be friendly! Take a _chill pill_ , Queenie!” he added with a smirk.

“ ** _I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR PUNS!_** _YOU_ _KNOW WHAT, I GUESS_ ** _HE_** _WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU BETTER!”_

Frostine created a snow pile on the ground and raised her hands in the air, the snow moulding itself to form a…

It wasn’t an ice giant.

Nope.

It was sheer monstrosity born from the wrath of snow and ice, with icicles jutting out from every part of its body and eyes gleaming a frosty blue.

And did Chat mention how HUGE it was? Like, seriously, 10 Chats standing on top of each other, and still the monster would be a head or two taller.

Chat just stared at the giant ice thingy, his mouth hanging open. The monster came to life and then peered down at the hero.

"Umm, hello?" the boy squeaked, trembling slightly.

....

Lady Ice arrived at the scene to find her partner yowling like a cat stuck on a tree as he sailed through the air across the city.

* * *

“How many times, HOW MANY TIMES have I told you, Chat, not to rush into battles head-on?” Lady Ice demanded as she pulled a shivering Ice Chat out of the frozen Seine.

“Uhmm, s-s-so-sorry?” 

Lady Ice rolled her eyes as she demanded, “What was the reason for all the rush? Going to miss a rocket taking you to Mars?”

The boy shook the water off himself like a dog, ignoring Lady Ice’s squeaks of annoyance. 

_Serves her right for the quip,_ he thought.

“Well, just so you know, Bug, my date was interrupted thanks to this akuma.”

“The little kitty on the roof is not alone anymore? Nice!” 

“Well, there’s more to my life than just polka-dotted superheroines, you know,” he winked at her.

“Well, well, what all do we know about this akuma, Chat?” Lady Ice asked, clipping her yo-yo to her waist as she scanned their now-iced surroundings. “Except for the fact that she is an ice sculptor whose work lost Gabriel Agreste’s sponsorship at the last moment,” she added nonchalantly.

“Well, she goes by Lady Frostine, has power over ice and snow, can freeze people, make scary ice golems and wants to make Paris a city of ice. But wait,” Ice Chat trailed off as he narrowed his eyes at his partner, “How do you know who the akuma is as a civilian? Even I didn’t gather that from the five minutes I spent fighting with her, and you didn’t even meet her!”

“Uhm, I-I-Adri-,” Lady Ice stammered, her eyes flitting around.

“You Adri-what?” 

She took a deep breath and looked back at him, “Well, I happened to run into Adrien Agreste and he told me all that. Yeah.”

“You. _Ran into._ Adrien Agreste?” Chat squeaked, his mouth hanging open.

“Well, not like ran straight into him and sent us both rolling on the road. NO! I mean, uhhh, I met him on my way here and he told me all about the akuma. He left his girlfriend here, what was her name, Marie? Well, he said it was just like his Father to have taken the sponsorship away at the last moment.”

“But LB,” Ice Chat countered, his face twisted up in pure confusion, “you couldn't possibly have met Adrien! Maybe it was his duplicate fanboy, that Party Crasher dude?”

“Chat. I am telling you, I met Adrien Agreste. I would surely know it was him. And seriously, with an akuma on loose, should we really be debating whom I did or did not meet?” Lady Ice deadpanned.

“But I-uhh, no. You are right,” The hero nodded, his face grim set. Deciding something, he turned to his partner, “Uhm, let’s just drop this topic and get to the place where this akuma came from. You lead the way?”

“Sure, Chat. Let’s go.”

As Lady Ice yo-yoed away, Chat stared at her retreating form, a multitude of unanswered questions erupting in his mind.

_Why did Lady Ice lie about meeting Adrien? ‘Cause I am one hundred percent sure I haven’t met her as a civilian today. And that Father thing, that was something I only said to Marinette, no one else._

_Was she herself nearby where the akuma attack took place? But there weren't any people except me, Marinette and Andr_ é _. And even then, why did Adrien’s name reach her tongue first? She could have randomly spoken of anyone. Unless…_

The hero shook his head, bringing himself back to reality. Pole vaulting to catch up with his partner, he turned his focus back to the situation.

_Task on hand now, thinking later. And then again, I would be too lucky a black cat if the girl behind the mask is who I think she is._

* * *

  
  


The two heroes arrived at the scene, finding it completely iced-over.

“Wo-” Lady Ice opened her mouth to speak, but was silenced by a black clawed finger placed on her lips.

_Don’t mind the fingers, don’t mind the fingers! You have Adrien now!_

“Lady?” 

Breaking out of her thoughts, Lady Ice noticed Ice Chat looking at her curiously, his finger still on her lips.

“Yo-you said something?” she squeaked out.

Maybe it was the blush on her face or the movement of her lips that made Chat realise what he was doing, for the hero immediately jerked his hand back, letting out a nervous chuckle.

“Y-yeah, I think someone is in there, I can hear footsteps.”

The duo entered the exhibition hall with Chat in the lead. Lady Ice couldn’t help but marvel at the ice sculptures that adorned the gallery.

“This ice work, it’s breathtaking. So perfect and such finesse! What a shame that my date here got cancelled at the eleventh hour!”

Ice Chat nearly lost his footing on hearing her words, “Yo-your what?”

“My date, Chat. We recently got together, me and the boy I like. And well, he planned to take me here.” 

Pausing, Lady Ice added, “Something came up and well, we had to cancel the date. Though, I wonder why Mr. Agreste pulled back from sponsorship, at the eleventh hour, too.”

“Maybe some people just love being jerks and getting others akumatized? Snobby rich people, you never know. But anyway, this way,” Ice Chat shrugged, grabbing her hand and leading her deeper into the gallery.

_She was coming here on a date. Wow, doesn’t that feel surreal? And what a coincidence, both of our dates getting cancelled at the eleventh hour. Could it be…_

_No, Paris is the city of love. And an ice exhibition date, that’s definitely romantic. That’s why I was bringing Marinette here, after all._

“I am happy you got together with someone you love, Buginette.”

“Th-thanks, Chaton,” came the reply.

Chat caught Ladybug looking at him strangely. What he didn't know was that she was suffering a very severe sense of deja vu; he hadn't called her Buginette in years, and the nickname, used after nearly a year of professionalism, had altered the tone of their relationship once again. 

_Aren't we supposed to be professional?_ _And this happiness, this fondness for him, is this normal?_ The Bug couldn’t help but wonder.

* * *

“Hey, isn’t that Gabriel Agreste’s assistant? Ms. Sancoeur?” Lady Ice thought aloud, staring at the sculpture in front of her.

They were nearing the heart of the gallery when the man in the ice cage caught their attention.

“Yeah, that’s her. Funny how she maintains that stoic expression even seconds from being iced. But are you sure you want to use a Lucky Charm to break this cage here? I mean, we could just have a Chat with the dude and the ice would be broken!” Chat pointed out, one finger in direction of Michael.

The two unimpressed glares and the silence he got were enough of a reply.

“Okay, okay, bad joke,” he said, raising his hands in surrender. “But can’t I just use my powers on it? Why waste the Lucky Charm?”

“Well, we need a plan on how to proceed, after all. Better use a,” she threw her yo-yo in the air, calling out “ **_Lucky Charm!_ **”

Three pairs of eyes stared in confusion at the red-and-black polka dotted croissant that had fallen in her hands.

“Uhm, it wants us to chill and have a snack?” Chat pointed out meekly, then hastily added, “My mouth is zipped shut,” on seeing the glares he received.

“Lady Frostine is my girlfriend Jessica! I can help you! Get me out!” Mike shouted, gripping at the ice bars.

“Hm, Chat, I guess you should use your Cataclysm, while I make a small trip round the city. We might need additional help.”

Saying so, Lady Ice fished out the horse Miraculous from her yo-yo. A “Unify” and “Voyage” later, Lady Mare opened a portal to who-knows-where, leaving Ice Chat and Michael behind.

“Well, guess it’s time to do my thing. Stay back! **_Cataclysm!_ **”

Dark energy bubbled in the hero’s hand. He swiped at the bars of the cage, making the ice crack and melt away. Michael staggered out, thanking Chat. The hero grinned at him.

“No worries, sir. Now, I would certainly be grateful if you could tell me about any good hiding place nearby. And when I am back, we can have a little rapid-fire round about Lady Frostine while we wait for LB to return.”

* * *

A portal opened in a room that clearly could have belonged to any normal teenage girl. Lady Mare stepped out, looking around once to check for any human presence.

Finding no one, she fully stepped into the room, closing the portal behind her. 

“Spots off. Dismount.”

Two kwamis zipped out of the girl’s glasses and earrings as Marinette stretched, her gaze travelling across the room.

“Mhmm, everything untouched. Just like I left it in the morning. Here you go, Kaalki,” Marinette said, giving the horse kwami some wheat berries from a basket.

Tikki zoomed towards Marinette, a cookie in her hand, “So, what is the plan this time? Which Miraculous are you going to use?”

“Well, I really don’t know Tikki,” the girl said, ducking under her vanity and tapping lightly at the wall, till she found a portion that sounded hollow. She pushed at it a bit, causing the concealed sliding door to move away, revealing the red and black polka dotted Miraculous box.

Pulling out the box, Marinette pushed a few spots on the box, causing it to open. Her bluebell eyes travelled over the assortment of jewels that laid in the box, the cogs in her mind working rapidly.

Finally, she came to a decision, picking up the Miraculous she felt would suit her purposes against this akuma. She turned to Kaalki and Tikki, the two of them looking at her with curiosity.

“Well guys, it seems like we have to go give the Kubdels a visit.”

* * *

“So, she _chose_ not to freeze you?” 

“Yep, she said she loves me _snow_ much that she didn’t have it in her heart to make me an ice statue,” Mike said, a lovesick smile spread on his face.

“ _Icy_ what you did there,” Chat chortled, adding, “It’s really _ice_ to have a fellow punster, after all.”

“Yep, Jess hates my puns too, but I simply can’t help them. Though I do know about the right time to crack jokes,” the brown-haired man said, side-glancing at the now-embarrassed masked hero.

“We-”, Ice Chat opened his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by the appearance of a portal in front of him, Lady Mare stepping out followed by...

“Bunnyx? Man, you look so tiny now!! Shall I call you MiniBun now? And man, those ears are cute!” Chat cheered at the petite heroine who had come up from the portal after Lady Mare. She looked just like elder Bunnyx, though the white streaks added to her pink hair were a nice addition by the ice transformation. 

“Don’t you dare call me MiniBun, KitKat. The name’s Ice Bunny. I might be tiny, but I still got enough strength to yeet you across the city,” the girl countered, brandishing the umbrella in her hand.

“Well, well, we can all banter about heights and strength later. Right now we have got an akuma to handle,” the now-Lady Ice said, getting in the middle of the two heroes. Chat stuck a tongue out at Kaalki, who snorted indignantly in reply.

Turning to face Michael, Lady Ice queried, “Sir, do you have any information that can help us fight Lady Frostine?”

“Yes, Ladybug. And please call me Mike.”

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> floccon de neige - Snowflake  
> La ville glaciale de l'amour - The icy city of Love
> 
> Story also shared on my [Main tumblr](https://mininoire.tumblr.com/) and [Writing Tumblr](https://noirewrites.tumblr.com/).
> 
> If you are looking for a friendly MLB community to discuss your ideas, plots or share views regarding the show, or to simply be a part of a MLB server, join the [Miraculous Fanworks Discord server](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks) today!


	5. Just Me and You, For a Mewment or Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The akuma was dealt with, as always. Everything had gone just as Ladybug had wanted it to go, except for that little freak out session of hers. But there was something else, for after a year of professionalism, the sudden nickname use had somehow brought memories back to out Bug.
> 
> And our Cat? Well, seems like Ladybug's suggestion for a mere stroll in the rain brought him closer to her more than he expected to. Somehow, her umbrella finally satiated one of our cat hero's prime curiosities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of thanksgiving here! First to Frisian for brainstorming this akuma attack with me! Secondly, my beta readers for all the trouble of editing this chapter! Thirdly, sagansjagger for helping point out the plot issues with the akuma attack and making it more crisp, more understandable. And fourth, PurpleFlower04 for beta reading the entire piece at the last minute and pointing out the issues any simple reader might have faced.
> 
> Some dialogue helps from the fabulous ML Discord Fanworks Server, so kudos to them all too!
> 
> And ofc, thanks for all the lovely kudos, comments and subscribes! LadyNoir is finally here!!
> 
> Heads up, Unification happens here for the Miraculous. So Cheval means horse in French for those who are unaware!

The Lucky Duo, accompanied by Ice Bunny and Michael, looked at the now-iced-over Eiffel Tower in front of them. 

“Are you sure this is her base, Mike?”

“Hundred percent sure, Ladybug,” Michael replied. “Jess loves the Eiffel Tower. She believes it to be the city’s pride and beacon of hope. Even in her exhibition, the Eiffel Tower was the central attraction.” 

“I guess he is right, LB. Look over there.” 

Everyone gazed in the direction Ice Bunny pointed. Dozens of snow golems, each as tall as a two storeyed house, stood guard under the tower.

“And there’s Lady Frostine!” Chat pointed at the highest balcony of the tower, where the akuma was rampaging.

“We need to get there to fight her. But how?” Ladybug pondered, “Those snow golems are blocking the easiest route, and of course four of us going there using a yo-yo…. Plus, I do not want to exhaust Kaalki just for the sake of going up the Tower.” 

“Maybe use your Lucky Charm?” Ice Bunny offered.

“Guess that’s our only hope for now. Fingers crossed that we get something logical this time.”

Lady Ice shrugged and threw her yo-yo in the air with a yell of “ **_Lucky Charm!_ **”

  
  


...Only for a long, red and black polka-dotted, wooden board to fall in her hands.

“A skateboard? A sledge? A skateboard-sledge hybrid? Whatever it is, seems my type,” Ice Bunny said, shrugging.

“Too bad it neither has wings nor enough room to carry the four of us,” Chat pointed out, then looked around. “Speaking of four, where is Mike?”

The three heroes, now confused, started looking around for the civilian when a rumble caught Ice Bunny’s attention.

“Goodness, those ice golems are moving on their own! And wait, is that Mike?”

Chat followed the pink head’s line of sight, exclaiming, “I’d bet my powers that it’s him! He’s distracting the golems for us! Bug, think of a plan, now!”

He turned to face his partner, only to find the girl freaking out, the strange Lucky Charm still held in her hand as she looked at it with wide eyes.

“ **_He-distract-why?! What is this thing? Why do people act on their own accord? No plan, nothing, I-I-I can’t think of anything!_ **”

“Jesus, LB, now’s _not_ the time!” Ice Bunny said, the tone of urgency clear in her voice.

Chat immediately rushed up to the girl in red, holding her by the shoulders and trying to calm her down. “Bug, Bug? Lady? Hey, listen, look at me and listen.”

He gently nudged her face, causing her bluebell eyes to meet his. And...he couldn’t help but be taken back to the times when they had fought Stoneheart and Miracle Queen. The times when her insecurities had taken the best of her, when she believed herself to have messed up everything. How she turned back into the insecure girl who had tangled herself up with him when they had first met.

And he always did what he was the best at: making her realise that no matter her clumsiness, she was still the Miraculous Ladybug. The girl who was Paris’ beacon of hope and the brains of Team Miraculous. The girl who had dropped into his life from Heaven, literally. The girl who had been his first love and now best friend. And the one who would always hold a special place in his heart. 

And today, he was going to do the same thing, again. “Bugaboo?”

The term of endearment seemed to catch her attention. She jerked back to the real world, her insecure pools of blue looking up at him.

“Just relax and think with a cool head,” Chat said, patting her shoulder. “You may not have gotten time to think of a plan, but hey, aren’t you the same Ladybug who threw her partner at a stone monster the day she met him?” 

She giggled, causing his heart to flutter as thoughts of another girl crept into his mind. Shaking his head, he mentally reprimanded himself.

_Now’s not the right time, Chat, focus._

“Well, just look around and don’t melt under pressure. I am pretty sure you will think of something, Bug.” She smiled and nodded up at him, making him grin. Giving her shoulders a light squeeze, Chat moved back from her, satisfied at having done his part.

He may or may not have closed shut a stupefied Ice Bunny’s mouth, though.

* * *

Somehow, everything seemed wrong, and Ladybug couldn’t get her head in the battle. It was like she had lost sense of what was happening around her; her entire focus was on trying to get out of the self-deprecating mess of thoughts she was caught in. 

_Damn, why did people have to believe themselves to be superheroes and jump in to do everything? And why the hell did her Lucky Charm always have to be something out of the box? But above all, why the hell could she not FREAKING THINK OF ANYTHING?_

_Calm down, calm down, everything is fi-_

_How the frick is everything fine when there is a CIVILIAN engaged in the battle?_

And that was when she heard a voice. “Bugaboo?”

Luminescent green emeralds met her eyes, and they were just as caring as they always had been. Ladybug felt herself being pulled back to the time when she and Chat had faced Stoneheart together. When he had made her realise that she wasn’t useless. She was pulled back to the time when Aqua Noir had reassured her underwater. That the battle wasn’t lost, not as long as it was them two against the world.

Somehow, Chat had snagged a special place in her heart, like the sneaky alley cat he was. And Ladybug had always been grateful to have him as her stupid, dorky partner in crime fighting. 

_I threw him at a monster the first day, and the dork still does his best to cheer me up_ , she couldn’t help but giggle at the thought.

His confidence in her boosted her morale, as she prepared herself to think out a way using that strange Lucky Charm. 

Ladybug's vision travelled around to take in the scene. Mike was distracting the snow golems as Lady Frostine watched from abo-

Her heart leapt in her throat as Lady Frostine flashed in the telltale red and black spotted vision. Looking around fervently, the vision highlighted Ice Bunny, the skateboard-sledge thingy, the iced skating ramp thing near to her and Chat’s right hand.

_Damn, that’s going to be a tough plan. And I sure will need to feed Kaalki a basketful of wheat berries as an apology, but well._

“Okay guys, I think I have a plan.”

* * *

“You know Bug, this is one of the craziest plans you have come up with. But I am just going to roll with it,” Cheval Noir said as he stretched himself, winking at the polka-dotted heroine.

“I will take that as a compliment, Noir. Now, attention guys. This plan needs extreme precision. Everyone understood everything, right?”

The two heroes nodded at Lady Ice. Just then, the ground rumbled again, and the heroes turned their attention to the Tower, where Lady Frostine had shifted to one of the top balconies that didn’t have railings and started to create spiky ice barricades. Out of the corner of her eye, Lady Ice noticed Michael struggling with the ice golems. 

Entirely focused, she turned back to her teammates. 

Ice Bunny was now standing on the top of an iced over skating ramp, twirling the Lucky Charm in her hand. Meanwhile, Cheval Noir had taken the stance of a cat ready to pounce, his entire focus on the Eiffel Tower.

They both waited for further instructions from the polka dotted heroine.

“Okay then, let’s put this plan into action.”

* * *

“This way, you brainless snowmen. Chase me!” Mike shouted as he flailed his hands, trying to divert the attention of the giants and give the heroes the opening they’d been talking about.

That was when he felt something wrap around his waist. A string to be exact.

The next thing the young man knew, he was flying through the air, kicking some snow off one of the nearby giants before Ladybug caught him.

“Thanks for the assist, Mike, but I will take the lead from here,” the heroine gave him a two-fingered salute and jumped down into the battlefield, leaving him on some random rooftop.

Picking up some snow, Lady Ice made a snowball and chucked it at the nearest giant, catching his attention.

“Hey Frosty Brain, I have a challenge for you! Catch me if you can!!”

The ice golem roared, gaining the attention of its fellow monsters. Lady Ice stuck her tongue out at them and started skating, the huge beasts charging behind her.

As she started nearing the Eiffel tower, Lady Ice snuck a glance at the akuma who was still watching the snow golems intently from the edge of a railing.

_She’s on the edge. Perfect. Suits the plan._

Turning on the mini walkie talkie in her ear, the heroine whispered a single word.

“ ** _Now._ **”

* * *

“ ** _Now._ **”

As soon as the word reached her ears, Ice Bunny hopped into action.“ ** _Burrow!_ **”

A portal opened at the base of the skating ramp she was standing on. She adjusted herself on the Lucky Charm skateboard Lady Ice had given her and winked at Cheval Noir down below.

“Ready?” he asked.

“I was born ready,” the girl said, her eyes twinkling.

Ice Bunny gave herself a little push, causing the sledge skateboard to zoom down the iced ramp. Accelerated by gravity and her skills, the heroine reached a decent speed at the bottom of the ramp.

As Cheval saw her zoom into the time portal, he immediately called upon his power. “ ** _Voyage!_ **”

A portal opened in the sky, a few feet above him. Extending his baton, he pole-vaulted himself through the portal, the place near Eiffel Tower clear in his mind.

* * *

Lady Frostine was… confused. As she peered from the edge of the railing, she contemplated on the things that were unfolding.

She had expected the _heroes and not her boyfriend_ to try distract her army! And when Ladybug swooped into the battle, the Bug was bringing the golems back to the Tower.

_What is the pesky bug trying to do? And where is that stupid alley cat of he-_

“ ** _Heads up! Bunnyx Express is arriving!_ **”

“What th-,” Lady Frostine turned around to see a bunny-themed girl approaching her on a- **_was that a skateboard meant for ice?_ **

Before the akuma could even think of jumping out of the way of that speeding skateboard thingy, the bunny girl jerked her onto the board. 

The wind rushed into her face, and Frostine struggled to stand straight, gripping onto the human-sized bunny for her dear life. And then, just when the surprised akuma had regained her bearings, that evil bunny girl jumped off the board, leaving the poor akuma stranded to her fate as the board flew off the Eiffel Tower.

_What in the name of ice is hap-OH GOD NO, I DIDN’T PLAN ANY IMPROMPTU FLIGHT OFF THE EIFFEL TOWER, HAWK MOTH GIVE ME WINGS!_

Gravity pulled her down, and Lady Frostine was damned sure that she had abandoned her stomach somewhere on that darned railing of the cursed Tower. The wind howled around her, blood rushing into her ears as her heart raced. 

As she saw the board fall with a dull _**THUD!**_ on the ground that was approaching too fast for her liking, an icy fear clutched Frostine’s heart, rendering her incapable to even scream.

She prayed for mercy to whosoever God she could think of.

Said God was thankfully on alert at the moment, for the next instant, she felt a pair of strong arms wrap tight around her waist, pulling her close as their back pressed against her.

“Who the-?”

“Hey Frosty, fancy meeting you so soon again!” She turned her head at the loud, deep voice to see the mysterious horse-cat hybrid hero with glasses winking at her.

_Seriously, we are about to die here and all he can think of is winking? Who in the name of ice is he?_

As if reading her thoughts, the strange hero spoke in her ears, “Welp, it’s me, the alley cat from before! But you can call me Cheval Noir now" Looking over her head, he added “The snow pin in this crown of yours looks quite nice!”

He put his right finger on the pin, muttering a “ ** _Cataclysm!_ ** ” followed by a “ ** _Whoops!_ **”

_NOO! HOW DARE HE BRE-_

Frostine’s thoughts were interrupted as she landed into something. Something that was ...not hard as she expected. It was soft and fluffy. Like snow.

_But I never made that much snow, then how did this get here?_

“Guess Ladybug got the snow golems here on time so that we landed in their back. I am so glad I’m not a cat pancake.”

Well, that explained things.

She finally blacked out, her ears ringing with the scream of " ** _No!_ **" that had come from the villain.

* * *

“ ** _Pound it!_ **” 

“Well, thanks to LB here, the day was saved once again,” Bunnyx commented.

“It’s all thanks to Chat’s timely help to get me out of my thoughts,” Ladybug said, smiling at the hero. “He is a great partner to have.”

“Partner, yeah,” Bunnyx mumbled, but the heroes’ attention had shifted to Jessica by then.

  
  


“Whoa, Mike just filled me in with what happened and well...I still can’t wrap my head around it. But I am sorry for all the trouble I caused,” the woman ducked her head, her cheeks a bit red with embarrassment. “I really shouldn’t have flown into a rage like that an-”

Ladybug placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, causing Jessica to look up. “It’s okay, Ma’am,” Ladybug said. “I understand the connection between an artist and their work. And though I am not much of an artist myself, I must say, the pieces were marvellous! I really liked the finishing touches.”

“I am glad you liked them, Ladybug!” Jessica said, grinning. “But I guess we really got to go and get the statues preserved for the exhibition whenever it is held next. We won’t want to get drenched while moving, right?” She pointed up at the overcast sky.

Chat’s ring beeped, showing two toe beans left on the jewel. “Well, it certainly has been a purrleasure to be with you ladies, but this cat has got a scheduled grooming and petting session. I better not be late.,” He winked at the superheroines as he pole-vaulted out of the scene.

“Guess that’s a cue for us to leave too, Bunnyx,” Ladybug said, turning to the other superheroine, who nodded in affirmation. “On that note, **_Bug out!_ **”

* * *

“I am so sorry, Marinette,” Adrien said, his eyes downcast as he frowned. “I really wanted to spend time with you today and then-”

“It’s okay, Adrien.” Marinette placed a gentle hand on his cheek, making him look at her. “Spending time with you today was in itself a fun and good thing. But you know what really was the best?”

“No?”

Marinette flushed a little as she spoke. “When you asked me out for the date today, that was the best thing ever.”

“Really?” Adrien asked, awe dripping from his voice.

“Y-yes,” the girl said shyly, but straightened immediately as a thought hit her. “But don’t let this get to your head, okay? I mean, you are different from others, but then again, guys are guys and I know that I am kind of rambling at this point but _we need to get this point straight and-_ ”

Marinette trailed off , seeing Adrien chuckle slightly, and couldn’t help but join in.

_Well, at least he isn’t frowning anymore. I really love seeing that smile of his._

“You want to guess what I loved the most about the day, Mari?” he suddenly asked, a slight smirk tugging at the ends of his lips.

“Uhm, when I agreed to the date? Or wait- was it the ice-cream thing? No no, it nearly got ruined, uhm maybe it wa- **_MMPH!_ **”

Soft lips pressed against hers, catching her by surprise. But then she relaxed, her eyes closing on their own accord as she savored the moment. She felt one hand wrap around her waist as the other cupped her cheek. And before her knees could turn to jelly, Marinette wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss.

After what felt like mere moments, the two teens pulled back and leaned their foreheads against each other, breathing heavily.

“That,” Adrien breathed out, his breath fanning her face, “that's what I loved most about today, Mari.”

Her cheeks bloomed a pretty shade of red at his words. She didn’t reply, but merely closed her eyes shut, letting the reality sink in.

“Ahem.”

The two teens jerked apart and turned to face Nathalie waiting for Adrien near the car, her stoic expression fixed on her face like usual.

“Well, I guess that’s me,” the boy said bashfully, then added, “You said you had an errand at the umbrella shop. Want a ride there?”

“Oh, i-it’s fine,” Marinette said, shaking her head slightly, “The place is nearby, I can walk there myself. You shouldn’t be late for your class.”

“I-okay. Well then, see you tomorrow, _ma chérie_ ,” Adrien said, hugging the girl tight before getting inside the awaiting car.

Marinette waved him goodbye, blushing a pretty pink, “See you tomorrow, _mon prince_.”

As the car drove out of her sight, a giggle brought the girl out of her trance. She looked down to meet the happy gaze of her kwami.

“I am so happy for you, Marinette!” Tikki squealed. “You and Adrien are finally together!!” 

“Thanks, Tikki.” A small drop fell on the girl’s head, causing her to look up. “Guess we better hurry before we get soaked! But then again,” the girl mused, “It has been a long time since I have been out on a run and well, I am technically out today so-”

“You know the magic words, Marinette!” the little red being chirped. 

Marinette flashed a smile to her tiny friend and sprinted off in the direction of the umbrella shop.

* * *

The door burst open, Adrien stomping in behind it into his room. He fumbled with the locks and made his way to the bathroom, Plagg having zipped out of his pocket and flying to his hidden cheese stash.

The blond put his hands to the side of the sink, staring at nothing as the conversation from a few minutes earlier played in his head like a movie.

_“You will only date someone whom_ **_I_ ** _approve of, Adrien,” Gabriel Agreste proclaimed, standing tall in the foyer. “Not any random girl you lay your eyes upon.”_

_“Random girl you say, Father? RANDOM GIRL?” Adrien felt himself fuming at the tag that the elder Agreste had used._

_“Marinette isn't just some random girl I met on the street._ _She has been one of my closest friends for the last three years! She has been there as a pillar for me through thick and thin, supporting me everytime when I needed YOU to be there!”_

_Feeling himself choke up, the boy paused. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath to calm himself down. The next words that came from him… they had been colder than Lady Frostine’s ice._

_“You do not get to control my decisions or my love life, and I **r**_ ** _efuse_ ** _to let you do it.”_

_“Adri-”_

_The younger Agreste raised his palm, silencing the other man. “I will be in my room, practising my piano. I hope not to be disturbed. And thank you for your time,_ **_Father_ ** _.”_

“You done simmering? Or do you still have enough heat left to boil some water?” Plagg asked nonchalantly as he zoomed into the bathroom and sat atop his chosen’s head.

“Plagg, I don’t understand!’ the blond exclaimed, slamming his hand on the countertop in frustration. Gritting his teeth, he continued, “Why does Father want to control. Every. Freaking. Aspect. Of _my Life_? And that’s not what angers me the most. I just... I hate how I can do nothing about it.” 

“Kid. Look in the mirror and tell me what you see.”

Adrien turned his questioning eyes up, confusion etched clear on his face.

“Just tell me what I asked, you doofus.”

Still confused, Adrien looked in the mirror. There was nothing unusual at all.

“Uhm, I see….you and me?” he supplied, uncertain why his kwami had asked such an obvious question.

“Ah! Good to know you still have a few brain cells left in this container of yours,” Plagg snarked as he hit the boy’s head, eliciting a “ **_Hey!_ **” from the human. “I half expected you to claim to see the Eiffel Tower.”

“But that aside, you know what I see, Adrien?” Plagg continued. A small shake of the head as ‘No’ from the boy came as an answer.

“I see a boy, a boy whom I watched over while he grew up. When I first met you, I met a kid who had been sheltered all his life. An uncertain kid, but eager to go out and explore the world, to make new friends and be among them.

Plagg softly patted the boy on the head, before continuing, “A kid who was always eager to please his Father, no matter what. And now, see, you have grown up so much. Standing up for yourself, making your own decisions… you truly have grown up, Kid.”

The boy didn’t reply but merely kept staring dumbfounded at the kwami’s reflection in the mirror.

“By the way, you might want to close that trap of yours,” Plagg dryly commented, getting off his perch and flying away into the room.

Adrien followed him, surprise still visible on his face as he stared at his kwami. The little being tried his best to ignore the human and focus on savoring the cheese he was eating, but well…

“Why are you staring at me like that?” Plagg finally asked.

“That thing you said in the bathroom...that was very nice of you, Plagg,” Adrien said slowly.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just don’t get used to it.”

The boy threw a basketball at the hoop, triggering the mechanism that raised the piano from the floor. Setting up a Beethoven piece in his phone, the blond plopped down in a chair, staring at the light drizzle outside.

He spoke up after a few moments of silence. “Plagg?”

“Hmm?”

“ _ **Claws Out.**_ ”

* * *

Chat Noir bounded across the rooftops, the cool wind fanning his face. Jumping over rooftops in a light drizzle was certainly a good idea. Especially when he needed to clear his thoughts.

As he looked at the doused city of Love, he couldn’t help the smile on his face. Paris was the city he was born in, but somehow, risking his life everyday for the place made him fall in love with it even deeper.

A familiar silhouette standing on a nearby rooftop caught his attention, making him smirk.

_It has been high time I pranked Ladybug_ , he thought as he slunk towards the roof.

* * *

Looking out at the city, Ladybug was enjoying the light rain, recounting the special moments from the day.

Today had been special for her. Not only because she went on a date with Adrien or shared a kiss or two with him, but also because today, after almost a year of professionalism, she had felt the true friendliness returning to her and Chat’s relationship.

_He called me Buginette and Bugaboo today. After a year. I thought that since Heart Hunter, he wouldn’t be calling me-_

“A penny for your thoughts?”

She squeaked and lost her footing, feeling the treacherous pull of gravity immediately. But before she could be a Ladybug pancake in the alley below, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her close.

The smell of leather with a hint of cologne hit her senses, and she looked up to meet the smirking face of her partner.

“Always be on guard as a superhero~~” the dork sing-songed.

Lightly punching his chest, Ladybug pulled herself back a bit, giving him her best deadpan stare. “Teaching me rules from my own book, Chat?”

“Nah, M’Ladybug,” he said, winking at her. “I was just revising my lessons.” 

_M’Ladybug._

_He did it again._

His voice jerked her back to reality. “Bug, everything alright?” 

“Oh, yeah, everything’s just fine! Just that...” her voice trailed off, the words stuck in her throat for reasons unknown.

“Just what, Bug?”

“It’s been, it’s been a long time since we called each other any endearing nicknames. Like, for almost a year, we have been sticking only to ‘Bug,’ ‘Ladybug,’ ‘LB,’ ‘Chat,’ etc.”

She paused, gathering her emotions together again. The feelings, they were just _too_ difficult to explain without first-hand experience. “So today, when you called me ‘Buginette,’ ‘Bugaboo,’ and right now ‘M’Ladybug,’ I just..” 

Ladybug closed her eyes, taking a deep breath in before continuing, “You see what I mean, _chaton?_ ”

* * *

_Chaton._

The nickname hit him right in the heart, and Chat Noir momentarily felt dizzy by the déjà vu that overwhelmed him. The last time he’d heard that nickname from Ladybug’s mouth, it had been about... a year? 

“I-I understand what you mean, LB.”

Silence reigned between the two heroes as they sat down, looking everywhere but at each other. For some unclear reason, the awkwardness caused by the sudden realisation was suffocating for Chat. He racked his brain hard, searching for anything that might help shift the topic.

_Maybe talk about Marinette? No, no. Moronic move, talking about your current girlfriend with someone whom you’ve been chasing for two years. But what then… Wait, she herself had a date today, right?_

“So, LB,” Chat said, chuckling nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck, “did you talk with Mr. Lucky after the akuma?”

“Mr. Lucky?” Ladybug asked, confused. “Who is M--oh, you mean my boyfriend?”

Chat nodded in reply.

A smile broke out on her face as she turned to look at the city. “Yeah, we did talk. He was sad about the cancelled date thing, but, I assured him it was okay and uh-”

Had it not been for his night vision, he would have missed the glow of her cheeks in the darkness caused by the overcast.

Scooting closer to her, Chat put his head on her shoulder as he looked up at her confused face. 

“Something cheesy happened?” 

His smirk grew as her cheeks grew aflame. “Aww, come on, Bugaboo, I am your best friend and the best lady magnet in the city! Tell me what happened and maybe I could give the Mystery Guy a tip or two on how to romance a lady~~”

“Chat!” She groaned, booping his nose and pushing him off her shoulder. “I am happy with how my guy treats me. How about you tell me something about this Mystery Girl of yours?”

Oh, dang. He hadn’t thought this through. If he started talking about Marinette…

….Ladybug would skin him alive for revealing his identity in his lovesick rants.

“I-uhm...”

“Oh, so the Kitty can dish it out, but can’t take it, hmm?” Ladybug said with a teasing lilt in her voice, peering into his face as she lightly flicked his bell. “Your silence is just making me more curious, Kitty Cat.”

Thunder flashed all of a sudden, and the drizzle turned into a heavy downpour.

“Oh geez, I didn’t expect the rain to get this violent so suddenly,” Ladybug said as she unhooked the yo-yo from her waist. 

_Phew, saved by the rain. And Kitty Cat? Dang, is she now planning of torturing me by using all the past nicknames?_

Chat looked in slight confusion as the girl continued to speak, “Good thing I have this today.”

She swiped a line across the length of her yo-yo, opening it. The girl put her hand inside the bottomless container her yo-yo provided and pulled out…

“Oh wow, Buginette, I didn’t know you carried an umbrella with you! And oh goodness, is that themed after **_ME_ **?” Chat Noir gasped, looking with wonder at the black umbrella with neon-green accents, decorated with mini neon-green paw prints at the top.

“The last I was aware, umbrellas like that did not exist!” he said, shuffling on his feet in excitement. “Where did you get this from?” 

Ladybug giggled at his eagerness, shaking her head slightly. “I didn’t get it from some market, _chaton_. This is, uhm, well, this umbrella is the reason I fell for my now-boyfriend, so I treasure it a lot. And well, uhh, black is your colour right? So I, uhm, got it modified like this. I couldn’t find any umbrellas themed after you, so I thought it would look great like this.” 

She continued, laughing awkwardly, “You see, like a reminder of my best male friend and my boyfriend, and uhh I hope you get what I mean, heh.”

Something was familiar about her words, like he had heard them before. Nearly the same, but from someone else’s mouth.

“Chat?” Ladybug’s voice jerked him back to reality, to find her looking at him worriedly. “Is it a mess? Oh, I knew it would be a mess and-”

“Oh, no, no, no, Bug. It looks purrfectly pawsome! I love it.”

“R-really?” She asked.

“Of course Bug! After all, anything you plan turns out great!” Chat remarked, causing the girl to shrug her shoulders and blush.

A thought crept into his mind, causing him to nearly lose his footing.

“Kitty, you alright?” Ladybug asked him, worried.

“Yeah I am fine,” Chat chuckled nervously. “Just a bit peachy. You know, Bananoir style?” He added, getting himself into Mr. Banana pose.

Ladybug giggled, and Chat felt butterflies fluttering in his stomach. The same butterflies that he got when, when _Marinette_ giggled.

“Get in the umbrella before you catch a cold, Kitty Cat,” Ladybug chided him lightly, pulling him into the umbrella with herself. “Want to take a stroll around the area? Just me and you, for a mewment or two?”

“Y-yeah, and nice pun, LB” the hero replied distractedly, for his brain was busy rapidly processing something else.

**_“Oh! Remember that umbrella you gave me when we first met? I had to get it a bit repaired and modified. Themed a bit after Chat Noir. Black is his color after all, right? And I couldn’t find any umbrellas themed after him, so I thought it would look great but, damn, I forgot to ask you and-”_ **

**_“It’s fine, Mari. Anything you plan turns out great!”_ **

_Those words, they had been Marinette’s. Marinette was getting the umbrella modified to a Chat Noir theme today. And that umbrella, that umbrella was what started our friendship.The black umbrella. The one that I, her current boyfriend, gave her._

_Even earlier today, Ladybug… she lied about having met civilian-me, and when I tried to prod, she just brushed off the topic. And that Father thing again...I have only been that honest to Marinette, no one else. Plus, she chose to speak of having met me, not someone else. And I still remember, there wasn’t anyone around at that time, or social media would have gone wild. Then how did Ladybug know I was around?_

Chat looked over to the girl at his side. She was clearly unaware of his musings, looking out at the city and waving at some passer-bys. The slight smile on her face… It had been a long time since he had seen her like that. Calm and composed as usual, yet relaxed and happy. It was different, yet once again similar, for he sure had seen that smile somewhere…

His mind immediately went back to the time when Lila had come back and Marinette had accepted her place in the back row. He had seen that smile on her face then.

Chat once again looked at the girl, the cogs in his brain turning at a fast pace.

_What if...the mask wasn’t there, but the costume was? Like when we auditioned for Clara’s show? Wait, even then, what was it that Clara said?_

**_There you are! Here's a hug,_ **

**_Because you are Ladybug!_ **

**_You did what Ladybug would have, just the same._ **

**_Your heart is pure, like hers. What's your name?_ **

_And Marinette, in the Ladybug costume without the mask…._

He felt his thoughts come to a sudden, screeching halt as he looked at the superheroine beside him again.

_Same stature, same build. The same blue-black hair. Naturally clumsy, uncertain of her. But always ready to stand up for others. Hates liars, but cares for her friends. And wait, that explains why Team Miraculous mostly consists of people I know as civilians._

“Is there something on my face, Chat?” 

Her voice jerked him out of his thoughts. _Dang, how did I miss the similarity in their voices?_

Chuckling nervously, Chat replied, “No LB, I just..hey, let me hold the umbrella for you!”

“Oh, it is not a problem, Cha-”

“Of course it is a problem! How can a lady hold an umbrella when her knight is there for her?” he protested, taking the umbrella before she could argue any further.

“Okay, okay, Kitty, you win.” Ladybug rolled her eyes, but the smile on her face uncovered her amusement.

Chat winked at her, eliciting a giggle from the girl. As she turned her attention to some civilians passing by, the cat-themed hero once again started retrospecting.

_If Ladybug really is Marinette, then this umbrella should have that one symbol of identification that only me and Mom knew about._

He held the umbrella in his right hand, moving his left hand lightly to the top. He probed around with his gloved fingers, but couldn’t find what his heart desired.

_Guess she isn’t whom I belie-WAIT, looks like it is what I was looking for!_

Through his gloved hands, Chat felt some raised engravings in one corner of the handle. Running his hand carefully over the engravings, he focused, trying to decipher what the engravings were.

They were **_E.A._ ** engraved in a calligraphic form.

_E.A. As in ‘Emilie Agreste’. Mom’s symbol on the umbrella that had once belonged to her, then me, and then Marinette. And now Ladybug has the same umbrella, which can be possible only if..._

Chat could hear his heart pounding in his ears. The umbrella that had introduced him to Marinette, that same umbrella now revealing his Lady’s identity to him...

_This is it. The confirmation I needed. That the girl beside me is the same girl I had been with not even an hour ago. That I fell for the same girl, twice. That the girl with or without the mask is the same awesome girl I knew from the start. They are same, My Purrincess and-_

“M’Lady,” the hero breathed out.

Ladybug’s breath hitched as she looked at him, her eyes wide. “Wh-what did you call me, Chat?”

“M’Lady,” the hero said the word with reverence, a soft smile adorning his face. “No matter whom we are with, and whatever our relationship is or will be, from the day you fell into my life LB, you have had a special place in my heart. You will always be Bugaboo and M’Lady to me, no matter what.”

Ladybug stared at him, a beautiful blush that adorned her cheeks slightly visible beneath her mask. She finally broke the stare, looking down with a smile.

Chat felt his heart soar with happiness, feeling certain about being the luckiest black cat alive on the planet. His lady love, his best friend, they were one and the same.

_Lad-no, Marinette values our identities, and I would not drop this bomb on her. No. She already has too much on her plate._

_I will just keep being her silly kitty and her loving boyfriend. Her identity, her safety, it matters to me the most._

The duo continued their stroll, a comfortable silence between them.

A few moments later, his sharp hearing caught her whisper of “Chat”.

“Yes, M’Lady?”

She looked up at him, her bluebell eyes shining with adoration.

_Marinette’s adoration for him, Chat Noir._

The thought made his heart swell, his ears perked up to catch her words.

“No matter what,” she breathed, her smile lighting his entire world, “you will always be a dork, my best friend and my silly kitty.”

_Your best friend and your lover._

Her words made him feel the adoration, the respect and the love she had for him. As the rain pitter-pattered around the couple, the hero in black made a solemn promise to himself.

_No matter what happens, M’Lady, you will always be my top priority. Your safety and your happiness is what I live for now. You made this lonely little kitty on the roof happy, and this kitty cat will now lay his life down for you, Princess._

_Cat’s honour._

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story also shared on my [Main tumblr](https://mininoire.tumblr.com/) and [Writing Tumblr](https://noirewrites.tumblr.com/).
> 
> If you are looking for a friendly MLB community to discuss your ideas, plots or share views regarding the show, or to simply be a part of a MLB server, join the [Miraculous Fanworks Discord server](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks) today!


	6. It's not me, but Nature who's crying for us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paris is celebrating the defeat of Hawk Moth. What they didn't know was that another Battle was taking place on the city outskirts. A Battle no one would win for each side would lose.
> 
> It wasn’t a battle of weapons, powers, or physical strength. No.  
> It was a battle between two great emotions, each right in their own way.
> 
> It was the Battle between Love and Responsibility.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Khanofallorcs, PurpleFlower04, TheApathy, SteelBlaidd and LadyKae for the proofreading ^ ^

It was a day of celebration in the city of Paris.

They were celebrating the Defeat of Hawk Moth and the victory of the heroes. The Battle of the Miraculous was finally over. Hawkmoth was defeated. No longer would they have to fear evilized butterflies or feathers. 

What the people weren’t aware of was that there was another Battle about to happen on the outskirts of the City. A Battle that would not affect the Parisians, but only their two Guardian Angels. A Battle no one would win for each side would lose.

It wasn’t a battle of weapons, powers, or physical strength. No. 

It was a battle between two great emotions, each right in their own way.

It was the Battle between Love and Responsibility.

* * *

“Isn’t there any way to preserve my memories, Master?” Ladybug asked the old man, worry clear in her tone. He was none other than the head of the Order of the Guardians, who had come to retrieve the magical jewels from Paris.

“I am afraid not, Ladybug.” The wise man continued in a grave tone, “The best we can do is to preserve memories from your civilian life. You will remember everything about your civilian friends, but if any of them are Miraculous wielders, you will lose all memories that involve you and their alter ego.”

“An-and Chat Noir?” The superheroine asked, looking at her partner and best friend with worry, “What about my memories with him?”

“I am afraid that there’s nothing we can do, Ladybug,” the man shook his head, regret evident in his voice. “The Ladybug and the Cat Miraculous are parts of a whole, the Yin and the Yang. They complete each other and balance each other out. Any memory of yours attached to Chat Noir can be brought back if you are in contact with him, be it as a hero or as a civilian.”

“Yo-you mean to say—”

“Yes, Ladybug,” The Guardian nodded, confirming the heroine’s fears. “You will forget everything related to Chat Noir. No matter whether he is in your memories as a civilian or as a hero. You will forget all interactions you have had with him. And he will have to keep himself away from your life.”

“I-I-But—”

Words failed her. The fact that she would not remember _anything_ about her partner, not even a fragment of the banter, the battles, the puns, or the emotional support - all of a sudden she felt like her tongue had been cut off by this realization. All her sense of language lost, leaving her speechless in agony

_Five years. It has been five years since we first met. Five years of battling akumas and sentimonsters. Five years of banter, rooftop races, puns, heart-to-heart talks. And all these are going to be gone in what? In the matter of a second? Cataclysmed to dust and blown away, like they never existed?_

Feeling the emotions overwhelm her, Ladybug squeezed her eyes shut, taking in deep breaths to calm herself down. Sensing a gloved hand on her shoulder, she turned her head to lock her teary gaze with the sad, yet understanding, green gaze of her partner.

_He would still remember. Even after my memories are gone, he would still remember everything. Is it — is it even justified?_

“Ch-Chat,” she tried to speak, only for a clawed finger to rest on her lips, silencing her.

She didn’t mind his fingers. Somehow, that small gesture held a deeper meaning now. Now when she knew that these little moments, tiny fleeting moments when everything just seemed perfect, they were not going to last forever. 

“It’s okay, Bugaboo,” he said, a slight sad smile on his face, “I kind of knew beforehand that this… this was going to happen soon.”

The superheroine turned to look behind her at the Guardian, and a simple nod from him validated Chat’s statement.

_You might have known before, and might have even come to terms with this. But that smile of yours, it cannot hide the forlorn look in your eyes and the raspy tone of your voice, Kitty._

Those words died before they reached her tongue, though.

Losing her best friend...Ladybug was not ready for this. But if this was fated to happen, she might as well know the person who had been her pillar of support in these last five years.

“Ma-master, can Chat and I, can we get some time? Alone? I-I want him to know the real me. Plus, I want to know who it is, behind that mask, before, before…”

Even knowing that she would lose her memories the day she gave up the Guardianship, somehow, now that the situation was here, everything seemed so much more real than she imagined. And all that mental preparedness? It had flown out the window. Knowing that she would not be able to even see Chat Noir ever again had surely not helped the matter.

The Master looked a bit uncertain, and Ladybug caught the troubled look that passed between the old man and Chat. Were they hiding something from her?

But then, the old man nodded his head in affirmation. 

“Is there anyone among the rest of the holders with whom you can trust your and Chat’s identity, Ladybug?”

The girl didn’t need to think twice. With Adrien most probably recuperating from the after-effects of the final battle...

“Rena Rouge, Master. I trust her.”

“Very well. I will get her here in the meantime.”

As the old man left, Ladybug turned to her partner of five years, and her best friend. The sweet earthy smell of petrichor helped clear her mind a bit, enabling her to get a grip on her overflowing emotions.

Looking up at the boy, Ladybug felt all words escape her as her eyes connected with his luminescent orbs that stood out in the darkness caused by the overcast. Shaking her head slightly, she let out a sigh, finally looking up at him.

“Y-you were always waiting for this moment, weren't you, _Chaton_? To know...who the girl behind the mask is.” Letting out a slight mirthless chuckle, the heroine continued, “So silly of me, to have imagined it as some celebration, with confetti and fireworks. Geez.”

“I guess we both wanted it to be like that, didn’t we, Bug?” Chat said, chuckling a bit. But the chuckle once again failed to cover his sorrow.

Ladybug looked down, willing the treacherous tears away. _No matter how sad this moment is, I will not make this any harder on my Kitty. No, I have to be strong for him. And for us._

“Well, you see _chaton_ , it’s finally time you know who the girl behind the mask is. Just be prepared , I am not the strong, confident girl. I am just a normal teenager, one whom you can find walking in Paris on any other day. I am ju—”

“I beg to differ, M’Lady.”

His abrupt interruption was something Ladybug had half-expected. _He still sees me with the rose-tinted glasses, after all this time._

The girl opened her mouth to argue but was again silenced as Chat put his finger on her lips gently.

“You are the most awesome girl I have ever met, LB. And I mean it,” Chat started, his finger still kept on her lips to prevent her from speaking.

“You were the first person to steal my heart. Right from the moment, you threw me at Stoneheart—I know, not exactly the perfect moment to fall for someone—but that's just me.” He shrugged casually, and she couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Since then Bug, we have been the Lucky Duo, the unstoppable team. The beacon of hope for Paris. I know we have been through a lot of thick and thin, and had our tensions and arguments. But doesn’t that happen between friends?”

She nodded in return, a bit confused about what he was trying to say.

“You used to say that you were very different in real life as compared to the time when you were a superheroine, and I didn’t believe you. Not until I met the real you, two years ago.”

_Real me? What does he mean by that?_

“Remember the events of Lady Frostine? When we told each other about our dates, for the first time?” Seeing her nod, Chat continued, “That day was a red-letter day for me because that was the day I got to know my Ladybug.”

_Is he implying….no way! How could he have…_

“Wh-what do yo—” she started, but he gently pressed his finger a bit, shushing her again.

“That umbrella we shared, that was what made me realize things, Bug. That you are the girl I fell for twice. Same features, same personality. The same Everyday Ladybug.”

Internally, Ladybug had started freaking out, as her mind rapidly began to connect the dots.

_It can’t be...No, there’s no way possible, just-just no...I am overthinking, YES I AM OVERTHINKING!!_

Looking at the hero with wide eyes, she croaked out, “Wh-what do you mean, Chat Noir?”

His eyes crinkled as a pained smile spread on his face. A smile she had seen on someone else’s face and was too familiar with. But there could be no way that….

The next words from Chat made her feel as though the ground was slipping from under her feet.

“ ** _Your hair is as dark as night, your pretty bluebell eyes._ **”

_That poem. I know it, word for word. But he can’t be.._

“ **_I wondered who you were, beneath that strong disguise._ **”

_There is only one person who knows that poem as well as me, but Chat couldn’t be him. No._

“ ** _Every day we saw each other, and finally you were mine._ **”

_But I am Adrien’s gir-...NO! THIS COULDN’T BE HAPPENING!_

“ ** _Together our love has been so true_ ** ,” the finger on her lips moved and a gloved hand cupped her cheeks softly, “ **_It’s you, Marinette, my Valentine._ **”

Her world came to a standstill, all words dying on her tongue. 

Stunned, she muttered “Spots Off” as he whispered, “Claws In”.

He looked at her with a sheepish smile, his posture that of uncertainty as his other hand reached behind his neck. Marinette was still trying to come to terms with everything that had happened in the last few minutes when thunder rumbled and it started to rain.

The girl felt something nudge at her and she looked down, meeting Tikki’s big blue eyes. The kwami nudged lightly at her hand, causing the girl to look down at the umbrella she was holding. Getting the hint, Marinette fumbled with the black Chat Noir themed umbrella, opening it and pulling Adrien inside.

She glanced back at Tikki, who gave her a soft smile in return. Grabbing Plagg by the tail, the little red being zoomed away, giving Marinette and Adrien the privacy they needed.

Getting her gears back, Marinette looked up at Adrien.

“Y-you, you are Chat Noir?”

“Yes, M’Lady. Chat Noir —the dork you love —at your service,” he spoke, slightly bowing to her.

Had it been some other day, his antics would have caused Marinette to giggle. But right now? Right now, her brain was busy rewinding the day and witnessing the Last Battle again.

**_Chat Noir pushing Hawk Moth to the ground. Chat snatching the Butterfly Miraculous from the villain. Chat pushing Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie into the awaiting police van. All without batting an eyelid._ **

But there was something different, for it wasn’t Chat Noir who did all these things.

**_This time, it was Adrien Agreste._ **

“You-Chat-your father-Hawk Moth—” she managed to stutter out, causing Adrien’s face to dim a bit.

“You know I don’t care about him anymore, Bug. I refuse to forgive him for endangering you, our friends, me, and the entirety of Paris for five years just for his selfish need to get the family back together.” He gritted his teeth as he continued, “Had he been a better father, a responsible parent in those five years —instead of spending all that time terrorizing the city and feeding on people’s negative emotions, things—they would have been different today.”

Taking in a deep breath, a small smile stretched across the blond’s face as he continued, “You were always there for me, Princess. As my pillar of support. I couldn’t have asked for a better best friend, a better partner, or a better lover. And I truly mean it.”

“Same, _Chaton_ , same,” Marinette managed to whisper out, the shock of the reveal now finally wearing off, “I couldn’t have asked for anyone else other than you, Adrien.”

The two lovebirds held the umbrella together, staring at each other in comfortable silence as the rain pitter-pattered around them.

_Everything is finally alright. Now I can go and return the Miracle Box, give up my Guardianship, and..._

_…_

_Adrien is Chat Noir. Chat Noir is...Adrien. That means—_

_No. NO._

“ ** _NO!_ **” Marinette screamed out loud, her hands leaving the umbrella to cover her mouth.

“Mari? What happened? Are you alright?” Adrien asked, his eyes wide with worry at her sudden outburst. 

“No, no, th-this can’t be happening!” the girl muttered, the tears from earlier welling up in her bluebell eyes once again.

Now anxious, Adrien grabbed her shoulder with one hand, shaking her slightly to try to gain her attention, “Nette? Talk to me! Tell me, what’s wrong?”

“Ev-everything.”

Looking at Adrien as the treacherous tears flowed freely from her eyes, Marinette croaked out, “Eve-everything’s wrong. You-you being Chat...it’s entirely wrong!”

The boy stumbled back, gasping as if her words had cut right through his heart. “Bu-but didn’t you ju-just say..”

“DAMN whatever I just said! Just damn it!” Marinette shouted, clutching at her hair, “Forgetting about you, our relationship...it is the worst, Adrien. The worst!”

The boy immediately let go of her shoulder, his face now passive. “Oh, I see.”

“See? Just see?”

Eyes ablaze, Marinette moved forward to grip Adrien by the collar, shaking him, “Our relationship...it is at stake, all my memories of our love, it is at stake...and all you say is, ‘I see’?” Oh tell me, what do you see, Adrien, **_WHAT DO YOU SEE?!_ **”

He stayed silent, his eyes downcast.

Sobs wracked her body as she choked on her words, each pause highlighting her anguish, her grief for the loss she was going to face, “The memory of ou-our first meeting? As our hero or civ-civilian selves, _gone_ . Th-the banter, those puns, _gone_ . The rooftop date y-you organized for me? A-after this is over, I-I would have no clue that.. _.that it ever happened._ Those icecream dates, tho-those sweet kisses? All gone! Like... _like they never exi-existed!_ ”

Tears continued to flow as she once again shook the blond, her anguish demanding answers for the questions he couldn’t even comprehend. 

“For three years, _three years Adrien_ ...I moped for you, yearned for you, kept my heart on my sleeve… _.just for you_ . The two best years of my life...of being together with you...and now...it’s all about to be just **_POOF!_ ** All gone. Is this...is this even reasonable? Justified? Tell me, Adrien, **_tell me!! Please!_ **”

The boy stayed silent, 

“I-I’ll refuse,” Marinette said in a low voice after what seemed an eternity of the tensed silence between the two.

“You what?” Adrien asked, his voice suddenly a bit terse.

“I will refuse to give up the Guardianship. Yes.” the girl nodded as if cementing her resolve, “I will stay as the Guardian and then, I wouldn’t have to lose my memories and we will still be toget-”

“ ** _NO!_ **” Adrien shouted, interrupting Marinette and causing her eyes to widen imperceptibly.

“No? Wh-what do you mean by ‘no’?”

“You are NOT refusing anyone or anything!” Adrien said in a loud tone, completely ignoring his girlfriend’s baffled look as he ranted, “You are going to give up that darned Guardianship of yours, forget about being Ladybug, forget about us and move on with your li-”

**_SLAP!_ **

Before she even knew it, Marinette’s hand had connected with Adrien’s left cheek, causing him to break off from his speech as his face turned to his right.

_His words...they had not hurt her. Rather had cut through her heart just like a knife through melted butter._

“Ho-how?” she whispered, then grabbed his shoulder and shook him with all her might, her actions fuelled by her frustrations, “HOW CAN YOU EVEN THINK OF THAT?? That- that you tell me to forget abo-about us...and I-I just listen to you and throw our love out of the window. How did you even think of that...when you know how much..we both wanted this relationship and had promised to do nothing to give it up and-”

“We. Are. Over.” 

His words caused her to do a double-take, “Wh-wha?”

_I heard it wrong. I MUST HAVE HEARD IT WRONG!! He cou-couldn’t have, no..._

“I said,” Adrien looked up, his emerald eyes now an acid green as he spoke in a bone-chilling voice, “we are over, Marinette Dupain Cheng.”

“Ad-Adri-I-I-”

“I free you of my love. You have none of it. Now GO!” He shouted, pointing in the direction where the Great Guardian had gone, “GO AND GIVE UP THE GUARDIANSHIP! NOW!”

She stared at him in shock and horror as her mind rolled in the waves of confusion.

“I-I don’t understand. I _really_ don’t understand.”

Letting out a mirthless chuckle, Marinette looked at her boyf-no, her now-ex-boyfriend, whose gaze was cast down. “I don’t fucking know why you are so adamant about th-this Guardianship thing. To-to an extent that you are just...just willing to throw our relationship, our love in the drain!”

Another humorless chuckle escaped her. “Oh, I am sorry, Adrien Agreste,” she spat out his name in pure fury, “I forgot that you just did that!”

Tears welled up in her eyes, but she decided not to let them fall.

_I would not cry for him. After what he did, I JUST WON'T!_

“You know what? I guess my love never meant anything to you.” He opened his mouth to argue, but she beat him to it. “You can keep this umbrella and you fake love with yourself! I will just go and get this all over with.”

The girl turned to storm off, but she hadn’t even walked a few steps when a firm grip, _a grip too achingly familiar_ , on her wrist stopped her, pulling her back.

Marinette Dupain Cheng gave Adrien Agreste the best glare she could muster. But as soon as she opened her mouth to speak something acidic, a pair of soft lips latched onto her mouth, pulling her into the fiercest kiss she had ever had.

* * *

It broke his heart to see her like this. He knew two weeks prior that this was going to happen, but the mental preparation hadn’t even worked an ounce.

Maybe even a lifetime of preparation wouldn’t have helped his case.

He tried to convince her first. And yes, he deserved that slap. How could he simply tell his Princess to forget about him even after knowing that she had loved him since the day they first met?

But he needed her to give up the Guardianship. _It was for her good, her well being._

So he resorted to what the situation demanded as the best. Just letting her go.

Not even in his nightmares had the thought crossed him that someday, Marinette would call his love fake.

She might forget everything about him and their relationship. This might even be their last meeting in this lifetime. But no, Adrien was not going to let her forget these miraculous five years of their life on _that bitter note._

He loved her truly, madly, deeply just as passionately as when he had fallen in love with the sweet, clumsy baker’s girl and the crazily awesome superheroine of Paris.

Had things been different, he would never have let her go, _never._

Grabbing her wrist, Adrien pulled her to himself. Her now electric blue eyes bore into him, sparking with the demand for answers to all her unanswered questions, fury radiating from her features and ready to burn him to death. 

Even in low times like these, she was still his Princess, his Lady, the girl he had loved for five years.

As she opened her mouth, possibly to say something that might pierce his heart and force him to rethink his decision, Adrien decided to give her the evidence that his love was as pure and untainted as ever.

He latched on to her soft lips, determined to pour everything in that soft, and maybe their last, gesture.

He felt her stiffen, then immediately relax as her hands wrapped around his neck, pulling him to herself. He snaked his arms around her waist, pulling her closer and relishing the feel of her in his arms. Her hands moved up to tangle in his hair, leaving searing brands wherever her fingers touched.

He tilted his head, deepening the kiss. He let his agony, his frustrations, his helplessness flow out. He wanted to, he _had to_ make her realize that what he was doing, he, himself, never wanted to happen.

That he still loved her as madly as he always did. Both with and without the mask. That he could never let her go, never forget her. For she was his other half, the Yin to his Yang, the Lucky Charm of his Cataclysmed Life.

_The Miraculous Ladybug to his Chat Noir._

He tasted salt in the kiss. Though he couldn’t tell whose eyes were the source of that - his or hers.

The need for air made the two pull away. They leaned their foreheads together, breathing heavily. 

“Ho-how could you call-” Adrien began, and Marinette peered at him through her eyelashes, the brimming tears that rested there clearly visible, “Call my love fake, M’Lady? When I still love you as madly as...as I used to, and will always love you like that?”

The girl hiccuped, her tears finally falling, “I-I seriously don’t ge-get you. One moment… you are so adamant, you br-break up with me. And the next, all mak-making up and-"

“Bug,” Adrien spoke in a gentle tone, feeling himself choke upon hearing her broken voice, “You have no idea how broken I am on the inside.”

She looked up at him, her eyes holding galaxies of questions that he knew he had to answer.

“I-I knew this was going to happen, two weeks ago. I was- I thought I was prepared... Prepared to convince you to do the right thing… but I-I wasn’t. You simply weren’t ready to give me up, and I just had to… say that bre- _that thing._ To… make you go.”

“Bu-but why do you want me to go, Adrien?” Marinette asked, her innocent look making things more hard for him, “Yo-you just said you still love me madly and…”

“And I always will, M’Lady,” He said softly, cupping her cheek, “But you matter more to me, Bug. More than my life. More than our love.”

“M-Mhat do you wean?” she stuttered out, and despite the situation, the blond couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Stuttering just like the time I asked you out, Princess?” he teased, causing her to avert her gaze as her cheeks dusted a little pink. Sighing, Adrien ran his hand through his hair, continuing to speak, “These two years being with you Mari… they have been the best. And your happiness matters the most to me. But… I have seen how the Guardianship, the burden of responsibilities… how they all have affected you.”

“I don’t want you to go to the who-knows-where Guardian Temple for that Guardianship training and then worry yourself out over some magical jewels or their holders.” He sighed, continuing, “I have seen exhaustion dim the light in your eyes. I have seen you brainstorming ways late at night to… to bring Hawk Moth down. I have seen you worry yourself to death over the slightest slip you made. All this… all this happening when you should have been out there, enjoying your life, designing beautiful masterpieces and most importantly, being happy.”

“Bu-but Adrien, do I-I don’t want to forge-”

“I know you don’t want to forget the memories we made, Bug. I don’t want you to, either. I want to be selfish… to hold you tight to myself and not let you go...ever. But -” the blond gripped her shoulders, squeezing them tight as he met her distraught gaze, his own eyes earnest and pleading.

“-your happiness, your peace of mind… it matters the most. Please, for my sake, just...just move on, Bug. Forget about me, about us, about everything. Live the life...the life you have always wanted and deserved.”

A new trail of tears streamed down her face as Marinette hoarsely whispered, “Bu-but what… what about you, my Prince? What about you?”

“Me?” Adrien chuckled, the edge in his voice poorly masked, “I will be fine, M’Lady. I will have our memories to treasure, after all.”

Seeing the uncertainty still clear in her eyes, Adrien placed a hand on his chest, whispering, “ _Cat’s Honour.”_

That successfully brought out a teary chuckle from her, making his heart flutter just like it always did around her.

“I-You-you stupid cat,” she whispered as she tackled him into a bone-crushing hug, crying her heart out in his chest.

Stroking her back, Adrien looked up at the black umbrella that sheltered the two of them from the rain. How ironic, the rain that had brought them together was now the witness of their separation. The umbrella that had been the symbol of their first love, now the last memory of their relationship.

He felt a tight knot in his throat as silent tears flowed down his face. He could finally realize the pain of first love. He loved her dearly, truly, and would do anything for her.

Sometimes, love...it is just about letting go.

* * *

Hand in hand, the duo walked to the place where the Guardian was, talking with the kwamis. The old man looked up at them as they approached, and Adrien caught the worry that was in the other man’s gaze.

He gave the Guardian a silent nod, assuring him that he had finally managed to convince her.

The kwamis zoomed to their chosen, sitting on their heads or nuzzling them, doing their best in their own way to comfort them and spend the last precious moments with their humans together.

The sound of footsteps attracted everyone’s attention.

Rena Rouge jumped down in front of the group, muttering “ **_Let’s Rest_ **” and detransforming to reveal the Ladyblogger, Alya Césaire. The kwami took the necklace from her and zoomed towards the old man.

“You called for me, Mas- wait, Marinette and Adrien, what are you two doing here?”

But that’s when she noticed the kwamis. And it didn’t take her much time to deduce things.

“My best friends in love — are **_the Ladybug and Chat Noir_ **?!” she squealed, then looking at Marinette, she nearly shouted, “Girl, you have got some serious explaining to do!”

A cough from the Guardian made the budding reporter turn her attention to the said man. 

“Rena Rouge, I am sure that Trixx must have explained to you the reasons for this impromptu meeting before you came here.”

The brunette’s cheerful expression dissolved into shock and horror, as she looked back at her best friends. Tears were streaming down Mari’s face as Adrien held her protectively, his own expression grim.

“I-I am so-so sorry. I-I-,”

Taking a deep breath in, the spectacled girl turned to the Guardian, doing her best to remain composed, “Wh-what do I have to do, Master?”

“Miss Césaire, please make sure to take Ladybug away after she has transferred the Guardianship to me. The rest of you do not possess the knowledge of the intricate secrets of these powers. But given the secrets of the Guardianship that Fu has taught her, she cannot remember anything related to this magic, nothing. We cannot risk it.” 

“Okay, Master,” the girl nodded seriously, understanding the gravity of the situation.

Tikki nuzzled Marinette’s teary cheek as she spoke, “You are the best chosen I could ever ask for. I will always remember you..and if fate allows it, maybe we will meet again. Farewell, Marinette.”

“Oh Tikki,” the girl hugged the kwami tight, letting her tears fall. The little red being returned the hug, then silently taking the earrings off the girl’s ears, she flew to the Great Guardian.

Plagg turned to his human, his arms crossed, “Well, I am going to miss the expensive Camembert. I really will.”

Adrien chuckled, his eyes shining as his lips twitched into a small smile, “Want me to get you three wheels of Camembert to last you for your stay in the Box?”

The floating cat didn’t say anything but kept looking at the boy. Then all of a sudden he zoomed to nuzzle the boy’s cheek, both sets of green eyes misty with tears.

“I hate saying this, but...I will miss you kiddo. A lot. And no, you don’t get to cry! Don’t make me melt, you doofus!” Plagg said, swiping at one of the tears that fell from Adrien’s eyes.

Adrien laughed a bit, causing the black kwami to crack a small smile. The little being took off the ring and flew with it to the Great Guardian.

As the kwamis disappeared in their jewels, the old man turned to the two ex-superheroes of Paris. “It’s time,” he said in a low voice.

Marinette turned to Adrien, her eyes misty as she gave him a soft smile, “I wish we could have been together for longer than this, Adrien. I really do. I don’t know what fate has in plan for us and I am still not convinced with this, but...if this is for the best --”

He cupped her cheek, giving her a small peck on the lips, “It was fate that dropped you on me from heaven, M’Lady. It was fate that sparked love between us on that rainy day, My Princess. And again, the irony? It is fate who is separating us today.”

“But if we are fated to be with each other, Nette,” he continued, looking into her eyes with the same devotion he had harbored for her for five years, “Trust me, we will find each other once again.” 

Marinette hugged him tight and he gladly returned it. “I fear I must go now, M’Lady,” he said, backing away from her. “I won’t say _Au revoir_ though, somehow, I prefer, till we meet the next time.”

“ _Je-Je t’aime, mon prince_ ,” Marinette hiccuped, letting his hand slip from her grasp reluctantly, “Till we meet the next time.”

He started to walk away, only for a call from her to stop him. “K-Keep this umbrella, Adrien,” she whispered. “It will- I-I-”

Smiling as he lightly kissed her cheek, Adrien took the umbrella from her, “I will treasure it forever, Marinette. Forever.”

As he walked away, Adrien closed his eyes and reminisced every beautiful memory he had had with his Ladybug. The banter, the puns, the flirtation, the soft hugs and kisses, they were what would keep him company for now, as he silently walked away from her life.

A flash of thunder and the sound of someone hitting the ground caused the boy to turn around. The Great Guardian was gathering up the Miracle Box and leaving, and Alya was already by the side of a now-unconscious Marinette who lay sprawled on the roadside.

His green eyes met her worried brown gaze for a second, the question in hers clear.

_Are you sure about this Sunshine?_

_Yes. It is for her best. Take care of her for me, please._

Her nod softened most of his worries.

Resuming his walk, Adrien let out a sigh. _It’s finally over._ _She has moved on._

The Battle of the Miraculous, the Defeat of Hawk Moth, and the Transfer of Guardianship had happened. And what did the heroes get in the end? 

For others, it might be a sad, even a tragic ending of a love story. But for Adrien? He had a treasure of memories, moments, and love to cherish for an entire lifetime. And his love’s happiness mattered to him the most.

He wasn’t crying at all. No.

It was Nature who was crying for the two lovebirds: the two lovebirds whose paper boat had finally capsized in the storm of Responsibilities that had raged on the waters of Love.

Letting go of the black umbrella, the symbol of their love, Adrien spread his arms out wide as he looked skyward. Hearing the faint talks over the pitter-patter of the raindrops, specifically _her voice_ , a song long forgotten was on his tongue once more.

“ _Little kitty on a roof~~_ ”

* * *

“-Nette! Marinette!”

The girl opened her eyes, blinking out the darkness as she turned her head around to inspect her surroundings. It was raining and she was lying on the roadside, a spectacled girl peering into her face with worry.

As she picked herself up to a sitting position, a splitting headache wracked her senses, causing her to hold her head tight.

“Girl, you okay?” The spectacled girl asked, worry apparent in her voice.

Marinette felt like something big had happened. Something very big. Exactly what, she couldn’t remember. There was just a hazy memory of something — something green and luminescent and —

Her head hurt like hell from stressing over that particular thing.

“Girl? Hey, that furrow of your brows — are you stressing over something?” Marinette looked up at the source of the voice, the brown-eyed girl who was looking at her in worry.

_I have seen her. I remember her. It’s — she’s…_

“A-Alya? Wh-what happened? Why are we here?”

The girl — Alya — looked relieved as she helped her up, “What do you remember girl?”

“Well,” Marinette stressed a bit on the hazy memories, and then said in a low voice, “We were celebrating the victory of Ladybug and Chat Noir in the last battle? Yes — and then, we were going by here for some work and-and,” she clutched her hair, clearly frustrated, “Dang! I can’t remember a thing! _Why?_ ”

“Hey, don’t stress. You just fainted and hit your head pretty hard. Give it a rest, girl.” Alya said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“Bu-but there’s...there is something that I can’t place, Al, something that I ought to remember but I can’t and-and —”

“ _Little kitty on a roof~~_ ”

Marinette turned her attention to the singing blond man at the distance who was standing in the rain with his arms outstretched, his black umbrella lying on the ground near him.

She felt like she knew him, she ought to know him, to see his face. And that song…

The song produced a familiar ache in her heart, an ache she could not put her finger on. It was like she wanted to reach out to him, to hug the loneliness out of that kitty in the song, and tell him that he wasn’t alone. And before she even knew it, the words escaped her lips —

“ _~~All alone without his Lady.._ ”

Maybe it was just her brain acting up, but Marinette was sure she had seen the man’s shoulders hunch up a bit. He was about to turn around and then she could see his face and know who he was…

The man didn’t turn. Instead, he simply picked up the umbrella and walked away silently.

As she stared at his retreating form, her heart aching for reasons unknown and unexplained, she felt Alya nudge her in the shoulder, “Girl? Everything alright?”

She turned to her, her mind still a bit distracted, “I-I-yeah, it’s all fine..just that, that man…”

“What man? The one who was singing? What about him?” Alya prodded.

“I just —” Marinette shook her head, “I don’t know why, I feel like he is someone I should know. Like, of course, I would have remembered, right? But then again —”

“Meh, girl,” Alya said dismissively, patting her back, “there are hundreds of blond dudes out here in Paris. He is just one of them. And damn, I am a budding reporter but still don’t know all the people out there. You can’t expect to remember every face in Paris, now can you?”

“I-I guess you are right, Al,” Marinette whispered, her mind still elsewhere.

“Okay, now leave this. Shall we hurry or not, Ms. Dupain-Cheng? Or do you want everyone else to finish off your parents’ heavenly macarons before we get any?” 

Marinette couldn’t help but giggle, “Alrighty, let’s go.”

Alya fist-pumped the air, “ ** _MACARONS TO THE RESCUE!_ **”

Marinette chuckled, but then, she suddenly felt a pair of eyes on her. Green eyes under a blond mop of hair flashed in her memory once again, and she couldn’t help but turn around.

But there was no one on the road. Even that blond person was now a good distance away.

Had she imagined his stare? Had she imagined that soft smile that could lighten up a dark room? And did her ears deceive her with that soft " _Je t'aime M'Lady_ " ?

Why did she still feel like that man — that unknown person was someone important in her life? Someone important whom she couldn’t have parted with? 

It was a feeling so alien, so strange, so painful for her. And yet, as Alya pulled at her wrist once more while she watched his retreating figure, Marinette couldn’t help but mutter to herself, “ _Strange. Really strange.”_

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ending on the angsty note for now. But an epilogue might happen someday! Shall they meet again or not? That's for the readers to decide. 
> 
> Mini scat!
> 
> Story also shared on my [Main tumblr](https://mininoire.tumblr.com/) and [Writing Tumblr](https://noirewrites.tumblr.com/).
> 
> If you are looking for a friendly MLB community to discuss your ideas, plots or share views regarding the show, or to simply be a part of a MLB server, join the [Miraculous Fanworks Discord server](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks) today!


	7. Back to Where We Were

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Memories — they are a tricky thing. But one thing is for sure... they _never_ fade.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Peeking in_
> 
> My lovely readers! I know this chapter comes ~~very~~ a little late for comfort, but uhm, here's your epilogue? Whatever happens here — uh, I will say that you all just read! Right? Aaaaand before you guys kill me for the angst I placed in the last chapter, lemme hide myself somewhere, quick. Enjoy!  
> And thanks to wellsaltedlady, khanofallorcs and miabrown for beta reading!! <3  
>  _hides under an invisibility cloak_

Six years.

It had been six years since his world had turned all topsy-turvy, thanks to Hawk Moth. Or maybe his bad luck.

Well, his Lady finally had a life unburdened by the weight of the world. That’s what mattered in the end, right?

Sighing, Adrien trudged down the path, taking in the side-scenes. Paris sure had changed a lot in the past six years. 

With no threat of evilised butterflies and feathers, tourists were once again flocking to the city. The people roamed around freely, and were not scared of holding arguments in public. Adrien chuckled slightly at the sight of a bickering couple who were lost in their own world. The scene reminded him of his last fight with Marinette, but he chucked the bad thoughts out before they could overwhelm him.

Chucking out the negativity had become a habit, Adrien noted.

He had noticed the rise in the number of roadside stalls, yet most of the newer ones weren’t selling trinkets or food. Rather, many belonged to musicians, therapy animal rentals, or counselors and therapists who offered their services on a sliding scale.

Paris had taken Hawk Moth’s defeat as a chance to improve. The formerly fast-paced city had adopted serenity and compassion as its motto, transforming itself into a world-leader in mental health, spurred on by its citizens' desperate need for emotional well-being in response to Hawk Moth's magical terrorism.

Putting a hand in his pocket, Adrien sighed as he looked down and kept walking. People moved on with their lives, and even he had moved out of the city to do the same. But somehow, in those six years, he had been unable to find the peace, the relaxation, the homey feeling that Paris had always provided him.

Maybe that’s why he came back, despite being aware of how many painful memories he had attached to every monument, every building, every alley of the beautiful city of love.

He twirled the umbrella he held in his hand— a black one with neon-green accents. Chat Noir themed, one of a kind. Why wouldn’t it be? His Lady had gotten it remodelled especially for him.

There was a light drizzle, but somehow, Adrien had started to hate the rains a lot. Rains that were supposed to be a sign of peace, a sign of rejuvenation— those rains had served to be nothing but a tool to make him fall in love and then snatch away his joy from him when he needed it the most. True, he himself had given Marinette up. But why did Nature have to throw her own pity-party for him through rains, making him nostalgic for all those happy memories, those sweet hugs, those passionate kisses?

Grunting, Adrien lowered his head and continued to stroll. He had no business to attend to — _Gabriel_ had sunk after the reveal until Audrey took it over, managing both the company and _Style Queen_. Adrien was a normal civilian now, a normal man who had applied for the position of Physics teacher at Collège Françoise Dupont. 

What a huge 180 his life had made— he chuckled mirthlessly at the thought.

A pigeon flew past him, breaking him out of his reverie as he sneezed. The man looked around, finding himself at the familiar Trocadéro, Mr. Ramier sitting in the distance feeding the birds.

A soft smile cracked on his face. It seemed like not everything had changed. 

He looked up to find the Eiffel Tower right in front of him. Turning around, Adrien found himself standing near the steps of the Trocadéro. And his imagination ran wild, for he immediately was pulled back into memories — 

Memories of times when his teenage, lovesick self sat on those same steps, staring at his cute girlfriend as she sketched out some random design she had thought of in a sudden burst of imagination. Her tongue stuck out in a cute fashion, her eyes intently focused on her work as he thought of ways to get her attention. Finally tired of waiting, he would tickle her to get her attention, her melodious laughter a music to his ears and—

Wincing, Adrien screwed his eyes shut, looking away as the happy teenagers dissolved in a mist of sadness. Taking a deep breath, he desperately pushed away the memories. He had lied to her about being fine after she was gone — he himself knew there was no possible way that was going to happen. 

He broke contact with everyone to get away from the past. He left Paris to study in New York. He worked errands, tried to get involved in other things to divert his thoughts, sometimes even indulged in the unhealthy habits of smoking or drinking to forget the past—

—and yet he stood here in Paris again, without any goal, without any aim.

_Destruction just could not survive without Creation, could it?_

Looking at the Eiffel Tower, nostalgia hit him again like a truck as the past banter he had shared with her under a moonlit sky filled his ears. Deciding it was not worth his sanity to stay there, Adrien looked down and turned around to make a quick exit from the scene.

That was when someone slammed into him.

His Chat reflexes coming in handy, Adrien turned around just in time to catch the falling lady by her waist, her arms wrapping around his neck to secure herself. The way she hid her face in his neck— it squeezed his heart in a painful way, one he tried his best to ignore but couldn’t.

Helping her stand up, Adrien ducked down to gather up her fallen things. They weren’t much, just a few drawing supplies.

The woman, probably breaking out of her stupor, started apologising profusely, “I am so sorry! I should have looked where I was going and now I probably hurt you and you must be extremely mad at m—”

The incessant rant twinged at his heart in a sick way as nostalgia hit him again, but Adrien concealed his stormy emotions under a light chuckle, “It’s okay, Miss. No harm done.”

He continued to pick up her things, his mind distractedly noting how her supplies matched Marinette’s. “You work in fashion?” he couldn’t help but ask.

The woman immediately responded, her voice a little high, “Yes! I work for _Style Queen_ as a head designer.”

As Adrien pulled the fallen sketchbook to himself, the woman spoke in a low voice, “I guess I owe you an introduction. I am Ma-Ma—”

He began to get up, only for something light to hit his head. The man looked down.

“—madly clumsy. Oh, I am so clumsy,” came the lady’s weary voice.

Meanwhile, Adrien just stared at the fallen object in shock. To someone else, it would have been meaningless. But for him, it meant the world.

For it was a lucky charm bracelet with blue and yellow beads. So familiar that the mere sight of it punched him hard in the gut.

Picking up the thing with so much care as if it might break on touch, Adrien finally looked up at the woman, his heart racing faster than some racing horse.

Dull, sparkless emeralds clashed with lively, sparkling bluebells.

As the girl stood there, watching him with her mouth partly open, her long hair flowing with the wind, Adrien thought for a second that he was mistaken.

And that was when the sight of his Chat Noir themed umbrella lying beside a closed Ladybug themed one confirmed to him the identity of the strange yet familiar woman.

Tears welled up in his eyes, the mere sight of her having knocked out any words out of him.

For heavens finally took pity on the withered green grass to grace it with the merciful blue rains once again.

* * *

For the past few days, Marinette had been… confused. Or more accurately, bewildered.

She had been getting random flashes of events she didn’t remember being a part of, and over all, the situation was creeping her out.

It had all started subtly, a month or two ago, after she had binged the Ladyblog in curiosity about the akuma attacks. Something in her memory about the attacks had seemed flawed, and she just needed to be sure.

But the day after, Marinette had woken up after a troubled sleep, and somehow, for no apparent reason, she expected a motherly voice to be there, soothing her fears and calming her down.

What was weirder was that she had been living in an apartment of her own for two years now, so she had not expected her Maman to be there. Plus, the voice she had imagined was too high-pitched for an adult woman.

Shrugging that off, Marinette had carried on with her daily routine.

There had been instances when certain puns, certain banter, certain jokes flashed in her mind — all those in a voice she was unfamiliar with. A melodious laughter used to ring in her ears on those rainy days, often making her turn her head around and wonder about its non-existent source. All she could see was a flash of green eyes framed in the canopy of soft, blond hair.

Also for some reason, Marinette could never bring herself to date anyone— a tiny voice always whispering in her mind to wait for ‘the one’. Her heart warmed at the sudden thoughts of meaningful promises made under the moonlight, sweet “Je t’aime”s whispered under starry skies, but then, it was immediately crushed, for she had no memories of any such things happening.

She had shared these instances with her best friend Alya, only for the former Lady Blogger to have freaked out and banished Marinette from accessing her blog ever again. Alya never stated the reasons, just cryptically told her to not meddle with memories, for “memories are quite a tricky thing”.

And now? Now, at random times the young woman would find herself lost in some other place— a place where reality was way different from what she was accustomed to. Situations she didn’t even remember being a part of. Seeing things, places, events from a whole new angle— from a stranger’s viewpoint.

The rooftops of buildings seemed familiar, the topmost level of the Eiffel Tower screamed for her presence. She somehow felt like she had swam in the depths of the Seine, despite the fact that Marinette had never had fallen in the river, even by accident.

She had kept shrugging these instances off, but today? One moment she had been designing a summer dress for Audrey’s fashion line, and the next moment she was imagining an akumatized form of Audrey Bourgeois, a villain called Style Queen. What really troubled Marinette was the fact that she wasn’t viewing the battle from a spectator’s eyes; rather, she herself was confronting the gilded villain, twirling a yo-yo in her right hand. 

Before she could even wonder at the ridiculousness of fighting a villain with a yo-yo, Marinette was pulled into the feeling of wind rushing into her face as she swung over buildings and ran over rooftops. She had felt herself climbing the Eiffel Tower, defying gravity at all odds. Her hands were in an achingly familiar costume— red spandex with black polka dots— but somehow, she couldn't make the missing connection.

She saw the battle through her own eyes— how she taunted the clearly frustrated villain, the villain’s powers to turn anything to gold, hell, Marinette had even promised to protect a golden statue of a boy who seemed familiar, too.

She was confused as she saw herself talking to a tiny flying cat, and how said tiny being created a city-wide ruckus. Then, as she threw a polka-dotted glue tube into the air, yelling “ **_Miraculous Ladybug!_ **” it hit her.

She was viewing the battle of Style Queen from Ladybug’s eyes.

Everything restored, Marinette turned around to find a smiling Adrien Agreste— ADRIEN FREAKING AGRESTE, SON OF ONE-TIME FASHION MOGUL GABRIEL AGRESTE— glancing at her shyly. And she even offered him a lift to who-knows-where via yo-yo express.

That’s when the scene ended, with a co-worker shaking her awake. She had apparently fallen asleep while doodling.

The dream troubled her greatly. It was far more vivid and detailed than any average dream.

Why _did_ she see the akuma battles? Also, why did she see them from Ladybug’s eyes and not Chat Noir’s? Why did her heart give her a painful twinge on hearing those puns from the cat hero’s mouth? How did she remember the exact responses to the situations so well? And how did she figure out the use of those Lucky Charms— the ones she had always found weird?

As her gaze landed on a seven-year old fashion magazine, the one she was taking art inspirations from, Marinette couldn’t help but run her hand over the blond Agreste model who smiled back at her.

Why did Adrien Agreste seem so achingly familiar, when she had never even met him in all her twenty-five years, let alone been his friend? 

Her phone rang, breaking the young woman out of her thoughts. The caller ID said Gianna, her college friend.

Picking up the phone, Marinette balanced it between her ear and shoulder as she went back to sketching the dress, “Hey Gia!”

“Marinette, girl! Hey there! How’s it going?”

“All good, just designing a summer dress for the fashion line. What’s up with you?” Marinette asked, chuckling.

“Something that has had me squealing for the past one hour!” Gia’s excited voice reached her ears. Dropping her pencil, the designer turned her full attention to her phone. “Girl, I just hit upon a jackpot!”

“A jackpot? What kind of jackpot? A world tour with Jagged Stone?” Marinette asked, now curious.

“Ah! That’s a jackpot too, but nope! This time, I got some exclusive video recordings of akuma battles that took place like 7 or 8 years ago!”

“Wait, but how? I mean, didn’t Alya remove the videos from the Ladyblog, citing personal reasons? And there wasn’t any better source than the Ladyblogger herself…”

“Well, CCTV footage girl! You do know that’s a thing, right?”

“I—yeah.”

“I got one from my sculptor friend, Theo Barbot, and then again, Inspector Roger was deleting these past footages when they caught Claude’s eye, so he sent them to me!”

Marinette chuckled, ignoring the way the mention of battles made her heart twinge in a weird way, “Well, congrats girl!”

“No mere congrats girl! I was wondering, could you spare some time to watch these videos with me? I want someone I can squeal together and fangirl with.”

“I wish I could, but—”

“Girl, please? I wouldn’t have bothered you, given your workload, but then again, I don’t want to watch them alone and—”

Marinette weighed her options. She was nearly done with her work for the summer line, so an hour or two of recreation would not hurt, right? Plus, maybe she would find herself as a passing-by civilian in these videos and that might be the reason for the messy dreams she had, right? 

“Okay, I will ask Mrs. Bourgeois for a half-day. Tell me, where do we meet, then?”

“Thanks, girl! You are the best!”

* * *

Marinette reached the small coffee shop located in the 19th Arrondissement. Walking through the city, she once again got those weird feelings about jumping over buildings and running on rooftops, but she pushed them aside.

As she pushed the door open, a small bell chimed to make the patrons aware of her entrance. Her gaze travelled around the small area and she couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the familiar blonde sitting by the window, her latte laying untouched by her side as her eyes were glued to her laptop.

Tiptoeing over to her friend, Marinette placed a hand on her shoulder as she whispered in her ear, “The local fangirl is here.”

Gianna jumped a bit, but then gave the designer a toothy grin. “Girl, you are here!” She got up and hugged Marinette tight, who returned the sweet gesture.

The two friends sat down at the table to focus on the laptop.

“So, what battles did you manage to find, that the joy has you literally bouncing in your chair?” Marinette asked, a playful smirk etched on her face.

“Let’s find out together!” Gianna exclaimed, patting her shoulder.

“Well, go on, let’s begin.”

The journalist tapped a few keys on the laptop, then hovering the mouse over one video, she clicked it.

The video opened with the two akumatised twins and their cloned versions wrecking the city. They crashed cars, threw people off the rickshaws and created quite a hullabaloo.

All of a sudden, something pink flashed in front of her eyes and Marinette felt as if she had been pulled into the scene. For some unknown reason, viewing that chaos caused a strange yet familiar rush of adrenaline through her. She suddenly felt like she had to get those little monsters and bring peace back to the city.

One of the monsters was looking at an opened traffic control panel. Without thinking, she dived down from the building she was standing on. As she felt the wind rushing around her, her stomach threatening to lurch out of its place, she finally wrapped her brain around the situation . Seeing the pavement rush up to her, she had just opened her mouth to scream when instinctively, she shot her right arm out, the yo-yo in it wrapping around a nearby lamppost and securing her fall.

The woman tried to catch her breath, totally stumped by what had just happened. She looked up to see the mini monsters still fiddling with the traffic lights.

Once again, before she even realised anything, her lips twitched into a teasing smile as the words escaped her lips, “It’s forbidden…”

The Sapotis turned their attention to her. Meanwhile, she was still having an internal freak-out about what was really happening. 

That’s when a handsome blond in black leather popped up in front of her, his green eyes sparkling as he mirrored her smirk, “...to play around with traffic lights!”

Marinette could feel her heart racing, her breath slightly hitched as words once again tumbled out of her mouth on their own, “You’re just in time, Kitty.”

She reached forward for the monster's propeller hat, snapping it into two. The masked hero looked at her quizzically, “How’d you know to destroy the monster’s hat?”

She herself didn’t know. She wasn’t supposed to be here, fighting these monsters. She was meant to be in a coffee shop with her friend, fangirling at these action sequences, not be a part of them! She was not supposed to be a superhero, rather she was just a normal girl with a normal life, an aspiring designer who was planning to get herself a hamster called —

“Marinette!”

Jumping at the sudden voice, Marinette blinked rapidly to find herself back in the coffee shop. Her gaze swivelled over to Gianna, who looked slightly worried. 

“Woah, your spacing out tensed me a bit girl,” she said, chuckling in relief.

“I—um, what? We are at the coffee shop, right?” Marinette asked, rapidly looking at her surroundings.

Gianna shook her head lightly as she chuckled good-naturedly, “Of course. Where else would we be? On some random rooftop?”

The spectacled girl turned to her laptop, not noticing how her designer friend had tensed slightly.

Attempting to defuse the current situation, Marinette reached forward, grabbing the laptop. “You chose the last video, now it’s my turn.” She hovered her mouse cursor and clicked on a random video, one that had Chat Noir smirking in the thumbnail. 

_Probably some clip that thankfully doesn’t involve Ladybug._

“Oh! Theo as Copycat! He told me that this akuma attack had an interesting Lucky Charm,” Gianna said, humming approvingly.

_Mon Dieu_ , Marinette thought. _Here we go again._

She braced herself for any embarrassment that was bound to occur after her so-called spacing out. But this time, miraculously, she didn’t get lost in the scene.

Marinette gaped a bit as she watched the heroes taunting and fighting the akumatized victim. This time, she wasn’t a part of the video. Rather, she was enjoying the fight as a spectator, sitting alongside her friend.

_Maybe it was just a one-time thing. Thank goodness the weirdness has stopped._

“Let’s wrap this up!” Ladybug in the video said, before letting out a cry of “ **_Lucky Charm!_ **”

Pink light flashed, and the next moment, the superheroine was holding—

“A spoon?” Gianna and Ladybug-in-computer echoed. The flabbergasted reporter swiftly turned to face Marinette, causing her to jump a bit, “What do you suppose she is going to do with it?!”

“I—uh—I really don’t—” Marinette stammered, unable to form an answer.

How could she know what the spoon was used for?

The woman opened her mouth to speak again, but that was when something on the screen caught her eye. She pushed Gianna away from her face, much to the reporter’s confusion.

“Girl what are you—” the blonde began, only to be shushed as Marinette placed a finger on her lips, her eyes fixed on the computer screen with rapt attention.

Ladybug had been conversing with the two Chat Noirs, her voice clearly sounding irritated. But what had really interested the designer was the wooden beam of the warehouse. Given Chat’s baton and Ladybug’s yo-yo were extendable, and the yo-yo’s slip-knot, and the spoon—

_Voilà!_

“A fishing rod!” Marinette exclaimed out, her eyes shining in delight. “She can attach the yo-yo on the baton, using the spoon as a hook, swing it over the wooden beam and hoist the fake Chat Noir by his belt! The akuma would be an easy-peasy task then!” Marinette said with pride, happy at having found the solution to the problem.

“Woah girl,” Gianna’s voice brought her back to the present, “I seriously don’t know how you thought this through. But really, awesome job!”

“Heh Gia,” Marinette said, flushing a bit, “It’s not that big a deal—”

“Not that big a deal? Girl, you literally said what Ladybug exactly did!” the blonde squealed excitedly, before adding, “Hold on, I forgot to get your coffee! Give me a minute, be right back!”

Gianna left the table, missing the shocked expression Marinette wore.

_I...I just thought like Ladybug. I have dreams of fighting akuma battles...as Ladybug. I have weird recollections of jumping over rooftops...like Ladybug._

_What in the name of logic is actually happening with me?_

Still a bit shaken, Marinette looked at the collection of videos her friend had. One video with the view atop the Eiffel Tower interested her.

“You want to see this video? It is from the time when most of Paris was akumatized,” Gianna said from her shoulder, causing Marinette to turn. Taking the coffee mug from the blonde, she nodded slightly. The reporter smiled and clicked on the thumbnail.

The video opened to Ladybug and Chat Noir confronting a man in a three-piece scarlet suit. It was—

“Hawk Moth. In the flesh,” Gianna voiced out her thoughts.

Even though she had no remembrance of the mass akumatization or anything related to it, to Marinette’s great confusion and now-bubbling terror, something in her was certain about one thing.

The Hawk Moth on the Eiffel Tower was an illusion. 

Forcing the sudden theory to the back of her mind, the designer lightly shook her head, her attention rapt on the screen. Once again, the world around her blurred a bit, and she blinked a few times to clear her vision—

—and find herself atop the Eiffel Tower with a small, hexagonal crystal box in her hand. Chat Noir was standing beside her and Hawk Moth stood in front of her.

_Too familiar._

_An illusion._

_Look behind!_

She tried to will herself to look over her shoulder, only to find her body stuck in its place, as if she were a puppet, bound to perform actions that fate had decided for her.

_Take his Miraculous._

_Look in the box!_

_Too easy to handle._

_Beware, it’s a trap!_

Her head throbbed as the voices grew louder. She scrunched her eyes close, trying to clear her mind, desperately wanting to get out of this weird situation she had been in.

Without even her knowledge, her mouth started forming the words she didn’t even remember having thought about. “If you were to make a wish, there’d be a price to pay. Why don't you tell us your wish, Hawk Moth?”

The supervillain said something, but Marinette didn’t pay him any mind. Her attention was fixated on that strange translucent box in her hand— the hand covered in a material that was so strange yet horrifyingly familiar.

The red-and black polka dotted spandex was terrifying, for neither could the designer understand why she was stuck in the scene, nor did she believe herself to be cut out for these superhero duties. She just wanted to get out of here, go anywhere away from magic and unexplained stuff, be the oblivious designer who had no knowledge of these things, get her normal life back—

“Marinette? Girl!”

Clutching her head, Marinette squeezed her eyes shut, focusing on the voice that was calling out to her. A few erratic breaths later, she opened her eyes, her wild bluebells meeting Gianna’s concerned periwinkle orbs.

“Girl, are you okay? One moment you are watching the video, then you space out, start murmuring things and immediately clutch your head as if it is about to explode! You are worrying me here!”

Marinette tried to focus her attention from the throbbing headache to Gia, only to find her face covered by a yellow-and-black domino mask.

Letting out a yelp, she jumped out of her chair, inching away from the girl.

“Marinette?” Gianna, no the bee superheroine _Abeille_ , now Gianna again, inched forward, her eyes questioning and tone laced with evident worry. “Marinette, girl you are freaking me out!”

“I—I—you—” the designer stammered, then immediately dived forward to grab her purse, drawing supplies and umbrella from the table, before giving Gianna the fakest grin possible,”— Left the iron turned on the plants, need to go water my carpet. See you later!”

She dashed out of the coffee shop, leaving behind a flabbergasted Gianna.

* * *

_Gianna as Abeille? I am going crazy. I certainly am. There can be no other explanation for these weird dreams, weird instances, weird feelings…._

_….Maybe I should get therapy. But what if Mrs. Bourgeois will give me an extended leave from the industry for it? Or even worse, fire me? Then I will not be accepted in any other fashion company, my career ruined and my dreams all shattered. Maman and Papa will be so sad, I won’t find anyone to love me for I would be the world's unluckiest, psycho klutz and OMG my life is so ruine-_ **_OOF!_**

In her rush, Marinette hadn't seen the taller body until she collided with it. She flailed around, trying to grasp on something and anything as gravity pulled her down. She closed her eyes, bracing herself for the impact—

—only for a strong pair of arms to wrap themselves around her waist, breaking her fall.

The mere act of catching her as she fell felt so familiar, so natural, that without a second thought, she wrapped her arms around her savior’s neck, hiding her face in the junction of their shoulder and neck. 

She was oddly disappointed not to be inhaling a comforting mix of leather and cologne from that spot.

They stayed like that for a fleeting moment, before he helped her stand up.

Marinette stayed like that, something about the man tickling the far edges of her scrambled memory. She expected him to make a pun, crack a joke or at least throw her a wink. And that was when sanity knocked at her mind.

_Expecting a stranger to wink at me? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME?_

As the man bent down to gather her dropped supplies, Marinette felt as if she was the most awkward woman of this century. She knew she should be helping him, but she was frozen in place. Instead, butterflies fluttered teasingly in her gut, her eyes locked to the beautiful form before her. His golden hair alone blinded her.

_Crash into someone and then stare at them stupidly?_ A voice suspiciously like Alya spoke in her mind. _Girl, girl, girl._

“I am so sorry! I should have looked where I was going and now I probably hurt you and you must be extremely mad at m—”

The man chuckled lightly, sending another flurry of butterflies through her stomach. ““It’s okay, Miss. No harm done.”

_Where were these butterflies when I tried to date other guys?_ Marinette couldn’t help but think.

“You work in fashion?” he suddenly asked, pulling her out of her thoughts once again.

_Ah! A familiar topic to converse on!_

“Yes! I work for _Style Queen_ as a head designer,” she stated, her voice coming out a bit higher from excitement.

The man didn’t reply, rather continued to pick her things up.

_Well, at least I should try to strike a conversation, this stranger just helped me so much._

Fiddling with the yellow-and-blue charm bracelet in her hand, her only source of comfort and luck whenever she felt jittery, Marinette took in a deep breath as she spoke, “I guess I owe you an introduction. I am Ma-Ma—”

The silk red thread of the bracelet suddenly came loose, falling from her hand onto the blond’s head.

_Seems like even luck left my side today._

"—madly clumsy. Oh, I am so clumsy," she finished.

The blond didn’t say anything. He picked up the bracelet gingerly, her supplies tucked under his arm as he looked at her. For a moment, his expression was unreadable, but then his eyes turned to their fallen umbrellas and it morphed to something—

—something like pure bliss and happiness?

Then why did his eyes shine with tears?

Was it something she said? Maybe the bracelet hit his head hard or his head was already hurting and the hit of the bracelet served to make the pain more unbearable and —

“Si-Sir, are you alright?” Marinette asked cautiously, lest the man should break into tears.

The blond snapped out of his thoughts, looking up at her like a deer caught in headlights. He shook his head and handed her supplies over. Marinette took them in a daze, her mind still confused by his strange behavior.

“I am sorry Miss,” he said, chuckling a bit as he rubbed at the back of his neck, “That bracelet, it — it reminded me of someone special I used to know.”

_Oh. Now that made sense._

“Uhm,” the designer said nervously, “I know it’s not my place to ask, but— how? And...are you two still in contact?”

The man smiled, causing her to feel a little dizzy for reasons unknown. She was sure she knew him, how though, she didn’t know. 

He reached into the pocket of his coat, apparently searching for something. After a moment of searching, his face broke into a grin as he fished out something and showed it to her.

Marinette gasped at seeing the pink-and-green charm bracelet, held together by a red silk thread.

“I always carry this lucky charm wherever I go, and I think it works pretty well. I mean, it even worked now.”

Marinette gasped a bit as the man held the bracelet out to her, a tentative smile spread on his lips.

Something bubbled within her, something light and fluttery. She knew that it was going to be another scene flashing in her mind — a scene she did not remember, yet was a part of. However, this time, the nauseating feeling of confusion was replaced by a comforting feeling of hope and love.

And before she could think of anything else, the scenery around the Trocadéro evaporated from her view, giving way to a small room with pink walls and sloping roof.

Her teenage room.

The computer was turned on, the screen flashing with the colours of Ultimate Mecha Strike III. As her muscle memory played with the controls of the game, Marinette realised that the chair beside her was occupied too.

Strangely, the occupant was none other than Adrien Agreste.

The girl could hear her heart hammering in her chest at the sight of her crush. His perfect golden hair, bright luminescent green eyes, pearly white smile as he held a controller in his hand—

—she was playing a UMS III match with _the_ Adrien Agreste.

Her mouth suddenly went dry. She felt as if she had lost all sense of language. Adrien had come to her house, he was in her room, they were playing a UMS III match and—

—they were friends.

What was this new fantasy that her brain had cooked up now?

Suddenly, Adrien exclaimed out loud, “Wow! We won again, thanks to you!”

What was she even supposed to say?

Trying a weak air pump, Marinette let out a small chuckle, “Yeah, um, yes we did.”

 _Air pump? what a lame idea_ , she mentally chided herself.

“We? It was practically all you,” Adrien said, pushing his chair away as he leaned back and sighed dramatically. “You're amazing, Marinette. I guess you wouldn't even need me. I'm so lame compared to you…”

Did—did Adrien just call her amazing?

Breaking out of her trance, Marinette fumbled for a response, “Um, no no no, I... No, you're so good. I mean, I'm the one who's not good. I mean... I'm lucky, that's all.”

Their brief moment of awkwardness was broken by her father bringing in fresh cookies and possibly trying to spy on them.

When they were alone once more, Marinette felt an urge to encourage Adrien, to make him feel better. He was such a nice person, he deserved to feel worthy and —

She leaned in, cupping her mouth as if telling him a secret, “Actually, you know what? I've got a secret.”

The boy looked at her, curiosity clear in her expression.

“This is why I win,” she said, fishing out something from her pocket.

The pink-and-green lucky charm bracelet, the beads held together by a red silk thread.

Seeing the bracelet and Adrien’s smile as he took it, Marinette felt her brain swirl. That lucky charm had belonged to her. She gave it to Adrien.

And somehow this man, this blond man, had the exact same lucky charm with him.

The scene of her room faded away to give way to a darker place, lit up by the ambient light of the street lamps. Adrien was once again standing in front of her as she now held a small box in her hand.

“You never got a chance to open it with all that was going on,” Adrien said, smiling. Excited as she was, Marinette opened the box eagerly.

Only to find her blue-and-yellow lucky charm bracelet inside. 

Feeling as if she had been punched in the gut by surprise, she picked it up to take a good look at the tiny bracelet. Adrien spoke in the background, “I always carry the lucky charm you gave me with me wherever I go, and I think it works pretty well. So... I figured it was my turn to make one for you.”

Gaping like a fish, the girl felt as if she had forgotten all sense of language. Her head was fogged. Nothing made sense at all. It was like a jigsaw puzzle — all the pieces were there, trying to tell a story. But thanks to a lost piece that was the heart of the picture, nothing made sense at all.

She blinked hard — once, twice. The scene changed once again as she was pulled back to reality. The blond man had picked up his umbrella and was facing the Eiffel Tower, nostalgia clear on his face as he fiddled with his charm bracelet. The pink-and-green one.

If she had somehow lost a few figments of her memory and what she had been seeing was true, then was this man Adrien Agreste himself? Those chuckles, those smiles, the tears in his eyes — were they all there because they had met once again? And right now, as he stood by her side, was he thinking about their times together in the past? 

What had their past been like? Had they been just friends or maybe something more? Had she gotten over her crush for him as their friendship had progressed? 

These memories she had of him, were they connected to Ladybug and Chat Noir? If yes, then how? Why? Why did she feel an urgent need to get answers for these questions, questions that had stolen the peace of her days, the sleep of her nights? And why did it seem like she already knew the answers to these questions?

Was this blond man, supposedly Adrien Agreste, the missing piece of the puzzle of her life?

“Paris seems so familiar yet so alien,” he suddenly spoke, jolting her out of her thoughts as she gaped at him. 

“I mean, she still has her beauty, her allure, her charm — but I guess that when you lose your love in the City of Love, the moniker becomes irrelevant, right?”

“I —yeah,” Marinette mumbled, unsure of what to say.

_He lost his love here? How? When? And why am I even bothering?_

Thunder brought her back to reality, causing her to immediately rush to pick up her Ladybug umbrella. It wouldn’t do her good to fall sick by getting wet in the rain, especially when she had an umbrella on her person.

But no matter how much she tried, the damned thing refused to open up. The rain was heavy, falling in thick drapes like fabric over a mannequin, and Marinette wanted to curse her bad luck so badly that—

The drops suddenly stopped.

Looking up, the designer found herself to be sheltered underneath a black umbrella with neon-green accents. Her gaze travelled down its handle to the hand that held it, only to find the blond stranger holding out his umbrella for her, as he himself got drenched in the downpour.

The rain trickled down the blond locks that were plastered to his face, outlining his sharp jawline before falling on the ground. His green eyes crinkled as a small smile etched on his face, and that’s when the memory truck hit her hard, very hard.

The scene from Collège Françoise Dupont flashed in her mind, the one from where her true love story had really begun.

_“I've never been to school before. I've never had friends. It's all sort of new to me.”_

_“Well, that birthday boy date of yours is bad news. But don't worry. You'll be safe with me.”_

_“Then let's go back to what's always worked. A duo. You and me against the world, m'lady.”_

_“Bien Joue!”_

_“You're our everyday Ladybug. Have a good evening, Super-Marinette.”_

_“Even though the blackberry thinks that the mint might consider her lame and might want to be with the orange, the mint himself is kind of a fun-loving guy. Blackberry and peppermint might be an explosive mix, but oftentimes it's the opposites that attract. And one thing I know for sure, the mint is in love with the blackberry.”_

_“It was fate that dropped you on me from heaven, M’Lady. It was fate that sparked love between us on that rainy day, My Princess. And again, the irony? It is fate who is separating us today. But if we are fated to be with each other, Nette, Trust me, we will find each other once again.”_

_“I won’t say ‘Au revoir' though, somehow, I prefer ‘till we meet the next time’.”_

The umbrella was the missing piece to the puzzle of her life.

Her voice choked, tears prickling in her eyes as all the lost memories of five years trickled back, satiating some parched part of her heart while at the same time twisting her feelings in a painful way for having been unaware for so long.

Taking the umbrella handle from him silently, Marinette stepped close to the man, sheltering him in the cover too. She heard his breath hitch slightly, his green eyes going wide at the sudden proximity.

Eyes as green as emeralds, pure and innocent, shining with unshed tears. She wanted to kiss those tears away, to tell him that his Lady was back, that they could be together once again, that—

“Guess we finally found each other again _, mon chaton._ ”

Adrien took in a sharp breath in shock as his hand held the umbrella handle tightly. And suddenly, something snapped and everything turned dark.

Terrified luminescent green eyes stared into a pair of shocked bluebell ones, before they realised that the umbrella had accidentally shut upon them. A moment of silence passed before the pair broke into a fit of giggles.

“M—M’Lady,” Adrien whispered in a reverent tone, his chuckled dying down.

“My Prince.”

He cupped her cheeks, swiping a thumb at the tears that had rolled down, “I—I have waited so long, so long for you—”

She inched closer, her voice a desperate whisper, “Then don’t wait anymore, _please_.”

* * *

_As rain fell down on Paris in heavy torrents, people hurried to seek shelter. But there was one couple, trapped under a closed black umbrella, who remained there, oblivious to the entire world. The fiery kisses shared under the rain spoke of the years of longingness, passion and desire to be together. It spoke of how they were connected by the red strings of fate, their love braving the ravages of time and magic, floating in the waters of love and finally reaching its destination._

_The forgotten umbrellas that had laid the foundation of their relationship were the witnesses of their reunion. The rains that had made their paths cross and diverge now fell happily, as the two lovebirds, the Yin and the Yang, were together once again, their Miraculous love saga finally coming to an end…_

“Fu chose very wisely,” the old man said to the floating green creature beside him as he stroked his beard lightly. They both had been witnesses of the entire exchange that had happened, seeing from a far away corner in the Trocadero square.

“Master, do you mean—”

“Wayzz, Now that a new Hawk Moth is back in Paris, I guess it’s time Tikki and Plagg are finally reunited with their holders, too.”

_...or maybe it had just begun._

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Peeks out_
> 
> Heh, so...that's the real end. And here's the actual prompt I had got.
> 
>  **A 5+1 or something that involves all 4 sides of the lovesquare sharing umbrellas. The first one is the canon umbrella scene. The last one is Adrinette again. Five times they're in the rain, and one time they aren't OR five times one forgets to bring an umbrella and one where both remember.**  
>  **Bonus if for Ladynoir you put that Insta post Alya made with Ladynoir sharing an umbrella.**  
>  **Bonus if for Ladrien Adrien shares his umbrella with Ladybug.**  
>  **Bonus if for the second Adrinette one Marinette gives her umbrella to Adrien, reversing the umbrella scene from Origins.  
> **  
>  And...comments on how you felt for this chapter?

**Author's Note:**

> All kudos to the [ ML discord server ](https://discord.gg/PjNZgsf) . Updates and Quotes from the work available on [ my Tumblr Blog ](https://mininoire.tumblr.com/)


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